Trivia question

[Paulus]

Let's see what answers we get for this:

In pre-decimal English money, how many 1/4 farthings make 1 guinea?

(sorry, I was bored)

[coin watch]

Let's see what answers we get for this:

In pre-decimal English money, how many 1/4 farthings make 1 guinea?

(sorry, I was bored)

Well a Guinea was 21 Shillings, 1 Shilling was 12 Pennies, 1 Penny was 4 Farthings....so 21 x 12 x 4 = 1008 Farthings I guess!!!!

[TomGoodheart]

A guinea is 21 shillings, so that's 12x21 = 252 pennies. Four farthings to a penny, four quarter farthings to a farthing so .... 4032 1/4 farthings to a guinea. I think!

[Paulus]

A guinea is 21 shillings, so that's 12x21 = 252 pennies. Four farthings to a penny, four quarter farthings to a farthing so .... 4032 1/4 farthings to a guinea. I think!

Yey, you read the question properly! Quite mind boggling though that you would need over 4000 of them to have just over a quid!!

[coin watch]

Let's see what answers we get for this:

In pre-decimal English money, how many 1/4 farthings make 1 guinea?

(sorry, I was bored)

Well a Guinea was 21 Shillings, 1 Shilling was 12 Pennies, 1 Penny was 4 Farthings....so 21 x 12 x 4 = 1008 Farthings I guess!!!!

Oh then 1008 x 4 = 4032 1/4 farthings......Sorry missed the 1/4!!!!!

[Peter]

It was bad enough having 480 1/2d's to £1.

Bearing in mind they were the size of 2p's

[Peckris]

It was bad enough having 480 1/2d's to £1.

Bearing in mind they were the size of 2p's

...but worth considerably more...

[scott]

the answer is 1

they dont come cheap

[Rob]

Difficult question. The guinea was originally issued at 20s, but fluctuated over the years up to 30s before eventually being fixed at 21s. As they were replaced with the sovereign in the recoinage of 1816, it isn't clear if they were demonetised or not. Presumably a full weight example was still worth 21s, but if actually demonetised, then it had no fixed value and so the answer is an irrational number because the two denominations were never circulating concurrently.

Edited April 22, 2012 by Rob

[Peckris]

Difficult question. The guinea was originally issued at 20s, but fluctuated over the years up to 30s before eventually being fixed at 21s. As they were replaced with the sovereign in the recoinage of 1816, it isn't clear if they were demonetised or not. Presumably a full weight example was still worth 21s, but if actually demonetised, then it had no fixed value and so the answer is an irrational number because the two denominations were never circulating concurrently.

I don't know if this is merely a "gentleman's" (or should I say "horseman's") agreement, but as racehorse sales and prize money is still measured in guineas, then the 21s conversion still applies, if in a rather limited field.