British Gold Guinea Coins

The Golden Guinea has probably the most colourful history of any British Coin. It was a firm favourite of the British.
First Struck in 1663 on the 6th of February, The Guinea was the first English Gold Coin to be struck with a machine.

Originally it had a value of One Pound Sterling (20 Shillings) but gold price fluctuations took this sometime to a value of 30 Shillings.
It was called a Guinea because that is where (Guinea in Africa) most of the Gold for the early Guineas came from.
In 1710 the Golden Guinea was fixed at a value of 21 Shillings - one pound  and one shilling

The Guinea was very popular with gamblers and hundreds changed hands at racecourses and in gambling dens throughout Britain.

A token similar to the Spade Guinea was brought out and widely used for gaming and special tables were made for card games with a recessed pocket in the green baize top to hold the tokens or Guineas (depending how rich you were)

In fact the Racing fraternity still hold auctions of racehorses in Guineas even today ( and solicitors also charge their clients in Guineas sometimes too !)
Sheep farmers also buy and sell Rams for Guineas at auction.

The Royal Africa Company has a charter that permitted them to put an elephant beneath the head of the King on a Guinea and that coin was struck up until 1668 and the Elephant and Castle appeared on some Guineas after 1674.

King James the Second had the coin made with milled edges to discourage clipping and this was made until 1688 when the Glorious Revolution put William and Mary on the throne

William and Mary appeared on the coin together 1694 until Queen Mary died of Smallpox.

William appears alone on the Guinea  and then Queen Ann had Guineas struck from 1702 until 1714 .An exception was in 1703 when following the Battle of Vigo Bay a Guinea was struck with VIGO under the Queens Bust as a commemorative coin.

The Shield on the reverse was changed to include the Arms of Britains countries and of France.

George the First had five different portraits of himself on his Guineas and declared himself Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire and son the Guinea started to fluctuate in value again.

King George II had a large number of changes on his Guineas with eight different obverses and five reverses of his coins.

Some of his Guineas bear the mark EIC (East India Company) to show the origin of the gold while in 1745 a Guinea carried the mark LIMA.During George IIs reign even more changes were made to the Guineas and a Spade Shaped shield was used - these are known as Spade Guineas.

Then came the French Revolution and every nobleman and Royal person in Europe panicked.

The French Revolutionary Wars had drained away the gold reserves and people started to hoard gold coins.

However back in 1774 more than 19 million worn guineas of Qilliam III and Queen Anne had been melted down to be reused as guineas and half-guineas.

In 1799 Guineas ceased production (but 1/2 and 1/3rd guineas still were being minted)

The guinea was not minted again until 1813 when the Duke of Wellington had to pay his army in the Pyrenees (local people would only accept Gold) and 80,000 were struck but as the golden guinea was fetching 27 shillings on the open market in paper money
this was not great for the Government.

This coin was known as the Military Guinea and has a crowned shield within a Garter

!816 was the year of the Great ReCoinage and our Guinea was replaced with the Pound with a coin called the Sovereign.

The Aristocracy did not like the change however and continued to pay professional fees and serious luxuries like racehorses,land and art in Guineas.
So they kept using the term and often the coins !
In 1971 Decimalisation was supposed to have killed the practice of using Guinreas but it still occurs today

 The Guinea was mentioned in the Book Treaure Island by R.L.Stevenson  at the beginning of the book when the old Pirate offered Jim a Golden Guinea for a Noggin of Rum.

Another literary allusion to the Golden Guinea was in The life and adventures of a Scotch Guinea Note.

A Gloucestershire Farmer named William Davies turned highwayman and had a small reputation as a kind of Robin Hood character who would slip a Golden Guinea under the door of poor local
Folk after he had robbed the local coaches. He became known as The Golden Farmer but eventually was caught and hanged.

Gold was as alluring in the 18th and 19th Century as it is today.There are numerous pubs around Britain named after the Golden Guinea and there is even a Guinea Street in Bristol today.
A Guinea was more than most people earned in a week and some people treated the coin with suspicion (there were many forgeries).

	Great Britain 1712 Anne Gold Guinea ICG AU-50 Details $3,599.99 Time Left: 18d 10h 35m
	Guinea 7.000 Francos + 15.000 Francos Gold 1992 RRR $1,500.00 Time Left: 7d 10h 39m
	GREAT BRITAIN 1790 ONE GUINEA GOLD COIN AS SHOWN $1,100.00 Time Left: 18d 6h 50m
	1779 GREAT BRITAIN GOLD GUINEA COIN, PCGS XF45 $695.00 Time Left: 28d 4h 22m
	GREAT BRITAIN 1809 1 3 GUINEA GOLD COIN GEORGE III $600.00 Time Left: 1d 23h 3m