[cett]

Reminds me a bit of how in the UK the guinea coin ceased to circulate decades ago but it's still used for bidding on racehorse auctions.

1 guinea = 1.05 pounds

You purchase the horse in guineas, seller gets paid in pounds, auctioneer keeps the missing 5% as commission.

[flopsamjetsam]

That's fascinating, I remember my Dad telling me you would pay for something in guineas as a sort of tip, but I never knew it was for horses (this is in Australia).

[snypher]

My grandpa always called horse racing in general "the guineas", but I always assumed it was "the ginnies" for some reason.

[benj111]

The guinea was also seen as posher. So guineas were used as a social indicator

[gus_massa]

I agree.

[Time sink warning] [Fractions warning]

There is an interesting video by Lindybeige that explains the old British coin system. The part about the guinea is at minute 42, and in particular explains why it was worth 21 instead of 20.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=R2paSGQRwvo