Re: Types of numerals

Ph.D. wrote:
> The Guinea has always seemed very odd to me. A coin worth
> one pound and one shilling? Sort of like a single coin worth
> one dollar and ten cents.
$1.05 would be a better analogy.  :-)  It's due to fluctuating values of
gold and silver.  Originally, the guinea was a gold coin worth £1
exactly.  However, the pound was based on silver, and the relative value
of gold and silver fluctuated, and so the value of the guinea rose and
fell, at one point reaching as high as 30/-.  Eventually it stabilized
at 21/-