ABSTRACT
In the 17th century, however, the use of gold coin became more general, and its introduction caused a fresh currency problem. The principal gold coin was called a guinea, and 44I of them were coined out of a Troy lb. of gold i r fine. For some time no attempt was made to fix by law the exchange rate of guineas and shillings, and it fluctuated considerably. This was felt to be a grave disadvantage; it was obviously unpleasant for the ordinary citizen who received a guinea not to know how many shillings he ought to receive when he changed it. Later the value was indirectly regulated by the rate at which the Government accepted guineas in payment of taxes.
