guiri

Yes, I forgot to mention the Sovereign. So, the sovereign and the pound is the same thing just different names or? Yes, I'm a bit dense and hence the request for simple things. As for using an old term, I used to live in southern Spain for years and there they have a 5 pesetas coing which they call duro and for some reason, they will express prices in duros. Ie, 5 peseta increments. Something could be veinte duros (20x5=100 pesetas) or for instance mil duros (1000x5=5000 pesetas). Makes no damn sense but that's how lots of people do it. I'm not going into the way they REVERSE pronounciation either as that would be hard to explain. Some things just make little sense.

Yes it does and thanks but let me ask you, why the hell would you have a coin that's worth 21 shillings and one that's worth 20 shillings? Ie, pound and guinea? Was one added for some reason and the previous one just stayed around or what? Thanks George

Guys, I am not a collector but I signed on here to get a question answered as it gets on my nerves not to know certain things. I occasionally watch tv shows that are set 100 years ago or more in some part of the British empire and the coinage (since I dont' understand it) gets on my nerves and I'm tired of being ignorant. Right now I kind of ran out of things to watch so I'm watching The Onedine Line and of course, it's all about money and I'm all confused. Can you guys tell me what's what, how many shillings to a pound, etc. I've heard Pounds, Shillings, Guineas and Florines but I have no idea what's what. I'm assuming the pound is the highest but then dont' know if it's shilling or guinea and if so, how many to a pound, etc. Can you guys help and please, try to keep it simple. I really, really have a hard time with written explanations. I don't suppose that there is some kind of chart that shows them all laid out showing how many shillings to a pound and all that? I know that not too long ago this changed and I seem to recall there being 12 shillings to a pound but for sake of this post, let's keep this to around 1850's or so...at least for now. Thanks George