Origin
The first guinea was produced on 6 February 1663, and was made legal currency by a Proclamation of 27 March 1663. One troy pound of 11/12 finest gold would make 44½ guineas, each weighing 129.4 grains.
The denomination was originally worth one pound, or twenty shillings, but an increase in the price of gold during the reign of Charles II led to its being traded at a premium. In 1670 the weight of the coin was reduced from 8.4–8.5 g to 8.3–8.4 g, but the price of gold continued to increase, and by the 1680s the coin was worth 22 shillings.
The diameter of the coin was 1 inch (just over 25 millimetres) throughout Charles II's reign, and the average gold purity (from an assay done in 1773) was 0.9100. "Guinea" was not an official name for the coin, but much of the gold used to produce the early coins came from Guinea in Africa.
The coin was produced each year between 1663 and 1684, with the elephant appearing on some coins each year from 1663–65 and 1668, and the elephant and castle on some coins from 1674 onward.
Read more about this topic: Guinea (British Coin)
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