Guinea Coin
Definition of guinea. (Entry 1 of 2) 1: an English gold coin issued from 1663 to 1813 and fixed in 1717 at 21 shillings. 2: a unit of value equal to one pound and one shilling. The gold guinea was undoubtedly the major British coin of the eighteenth century. It was born in the aftermath of the English Civil War when the republican issues were replaced with a more impressive coinage bearing the portrait of the newly restored King Charles II. Coins: German New Guinea. UCoin.net is an International Catalog of World Coins.
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Guin·ea
(gĭn′ē)guin·ea
(gĭn′ē)n.1.guinea
(ˈɡɪnɪ) n1. (Currencies)Guinea
(ˈɡɪnɪ) nGuin•ea
(ˈgɪn i)n., pl. -eas for 4, 5.
Guinea
| Noun | 1. | guinea - a former British gold coin worth 21 shillings coin - a flat metal piece (usually a disc) used as money |
| 2. | Guinea - (ethnic slur) offensive term for a person of Italian descent depreciation - a communication that belittles somebody or something ethnic slur - a slur on someone's race or language jargon, lingo, patois, argot, vernacular, slang, cant - a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); 'they don't speak our lingo' | |
| 3. | Guinea - a republic in western Africa on the Atlantic; formerly a French colony; achieved independence from France in 1958 French Guinea, Republic of Guinea capital of Guinea, Conakry, Konakri - a port and the capital of Guinea Africa - the second largest continent; located to the south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the Indian Ocean Niger, Niger River - an African river; flows into the South Atlantic | |
| 4. | guinea - a west African bird having dark plumage mottled with white; native to Africa but raised for food in many parts of the world guinea fowl, Numida meleagris domestic fowl, fowl, poultry - a domesticated gallinaceous bird thought to be descended from the red jungle fowl guinea hen - female guinea fowl guinea hen - flesh of a guinea fowl (especially of hens) |
Guinea
[ˈgɪnɪ]guinea pigN → cobayom, cobayaf, conejillom de Indias, cuym (Andes, S. Cone) (fig) → conejillom de Indias
guinea
[ˈgɪnɪ]N (Brit) (formerly) → guineaf (= 21 chelines)Guinea
[ˈgɪni]nRepublic of Guinea → Républiquef de Guinée, Guinéef
guinea
[ˈgɪni]n(British)(formerly) (= coin) → guinéef (= 21 shillings: cette monnaie de compte ne s'emploie plus)Guinea-Bissau [ˌgɪnibɪˈsaʊ]n → Guinée-Bissaufguinea-fowl [ˈgɪnifaʊl] [guinea-fowl] (pl) n → pintadefguinea pig nto be a human guinea pig → être un cobayehumain
Guinea
guinea
guinea
:Guinea
[ˈgɪnɪ]nRepublic of Guinea → la Repubblica di Guineaguinea
[ˈgɪnɪ]n (Brit) (old) → ghinea → 21 shillingsGuinea
→ غينيا Guinea GuineaGuineaΓουινέαGuinea GuineaGuinée GvinejaGuinea ギニア 기니GuineaGuineaGwineaGuinéГвинея Guinea ประเทศกินีGine nước Guinea几内亚Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
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The unusual British coin“Guinea”
The old British coin system, used until 1971, was a little bit strange for a modern man.The reason was that it wasn’t a decimalsystem, based on the values of 100 sub units yet of different coins with different values compared toeach other.
So, a pound was equal to 20 shillings, a shilling was 12 pence and each penny was equal to4 farthing. Therefore, a pound was equalto 20 shillings, 240 pence or 960 farthings. But this wasn’t it.
A three pence coin was known and had the value of ¼ shilling. But also a four pence coin, equal to 1/3 shilling was used. The twoshilling coin or the florin was firstintroduced in 1847 and was 1/10 of the pound.
The most interesting coin in this difficult money equationwas a gold coin, named guinea, introduced in the 17th century and minted untilthe beginning of the 19th century.
This coin was introduced by King Charles 2nd in 1663. Theproclamation stated that the new coin will be legal currency starting 27 March 1663. The weightof these coins was established by royaldecree and 44 and a half guineas will have the same weight of one troy pound of gold, with atitle of 91,66% . The weight wasestablished at around 8.5-8,4 g. The diameter of this coin was established at 25 mm, with slightdifferences. The coin had the formalvalue of one pound, being equal to 20 silver shillings.
This coin was nicknamed“guinea” because the gold used for minting it was brought from Guinea in Africa. The area was rich in goldand provided this precious metal inlarge quantities.
The first guinea, minted by Charles 2nd, had on one side theroyal portrait, looking right, laured, and the typical legend, and on the other side the four coat of arms, ofEngland, Scotland, Ireland and France,arranged in the form of a cruciform, with scepters. This pattern was used for all the gold coins minted bythis king, until 1684. The successor ofCharles, Jacob 2nd, used the samepatterns for the coins, except that his bust is looking left and not right. It happens to know the name ofthe designer of the coin, the artistJohn Roettier.
Because gold was a rare metal, soon the guinea was worth more than its value.Officially, it was worth 20 silvershillings, but with the gold in it you can swap it for more silver. So, around 1670 the weight of the coin waslowered to 8.4-8.3 g. Despite this fact,ten years later, the coin was bought from the market with 22 silver shillings.
Starting with the reign of William of Orange, the designchanged. William hadn’t any blood connection with the royal family and hewasn’t a direct heir, yet the housband of Mary, the daughter of John 2nd. To legitimate his rule, he used on his coinan unusual image. He and his wife bothappeared on the coin, standing on each other side, looking right. This image, stamped on a coin thatcirculated every day, created theimpression that William was the same as another member of the royal family, as his wife, Queen Mary. This led toa useful propaganda in his favour.
These coins were minted since 1689 until 1694. Following the death of Mary, inDecember 1694, the obverse of the guineachanged in 1695, as only William appeared on the face of the coin. In the same manner, the daughterof Jacob and the sister-in-law of William, Queen Anne, appeared on her coins.
The Hanovra dynasty, brought in 1714, used at the beginning of the reign the same designfor the coins. This suggested thatnothing changed in the everyday life. The design was the same.
But with the reign of George 2nd, everything changed. Duringhis long reign of 33 years, coins were minted every year (except 1742, 44, 54,57).
The coins minted between 1729 and 1739 sometimes have under the bust the lettersEIC, from East India Company, toindicate that the gold was brought from India. In 1745, the letters were LIMA, indicating a South American provenience of the gold.
The design of the reverse changed. Instead of the cruciformcoat of arms, the new coat of arms was used.
Also it must be said that during the reign of George2nd, the problem of cutting the coinswas solved. Following an old habit, people used to cut a small portion of a precious metal coin, keeping that small part. A 0.05-0.1 g is not much andyou can hardly feel the difference butwhen 10 or 20 people do that thing, the coin will be less heavy with 1 g. And a coin that based itsvalue on the content of gold will not beequal to another coin, identical but heavier.
Sir Isaac Newton solved this problem. He was the first that introduced thetechnological procedure of reeding theedges. Every particular intervention will be easy notable from now on.
George 3rd also minted a large variety of gold guineas, withthe coat of arms similar to the onepreviously used, or other designs. The most interesting coin is the 1813 “Military guinea”, specially minted forthe duke of Wellington army. This armystationed in the Pyrenees and needed money to buy provisions from the local people. But the locals only accepted gold so a special issue of 80,000gold coins was produced. The design isunique, showing the coat of arms, crowned, within a Garter, with the French legend “Honi Soit Qui Mal YPense”, and the legend “Britanniarum RexFidei Defensor” on the side. It must also be said that in the same year, one gold guinea worth 27shillings in paper and 21 in silver.
Guinea Coin England
It was the last important guinea mint, as in 1816, the coin was replaced by a newgold coin, worth 20 shillings (onepound) and named sovereign.
Guinea Coin Weight
A subdivision of a guinea was minted. Ever since 1669, the half guinea was used and sometimes the rare third of a guinea (thiscoin used on the reverse the royal crownand not the coat of arms). In 1718 and 1764 a quarter of a guinea was also minted.
Despite the fact that this coin isn’t minted and used since 1816, the name still has agreat impact in everyday monetarycalculation. The term Guinea is still used in modern English, for the value of 1 pound and 5 pence, followingthe 1971 reform when a shilling wasconsidered equal to 5 new pence. The term guinea is still used in horse races. So used, that modernBritish coin catalogue considered thatit can express the price of that catalogue in guineas and not pounds.
Guinea Coin Pronunciation
Vasilita Stefan