The guinea was a coin of approximately one quarter ounce of gold that was minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, where much of the gold used to make the coins originated. It was the first English machine-struck gold coin, originally worth one pound sterling, equal to twenty shillings, but rises in the price of gold relative to silver caused the value of the guinea to increase, at times to as high as thirty shillings. From 1717 to 1816, its value was officially fixed at twenty-one shillings.
When Britain adopted the gold standard the guinea became a colloquial or specialised term. Although the coin itself no longer circulated, the term guinea survived as a unit of account in some fields. Notable usages included professional fees (medical, legal etc), which were often invoiced in guineas, and horse racing and greyhound racing, and the sale of rams. In each case a guinea meant an amount of one pound and one shilling (21 shillings), or one pound and five pence (£1.05) in decimalised currency.
One pound in 1892 has inflated to well over 100 pounds today, so 50 guineas would be worth over 6,000 pounds in 2019.
50 guineas would be 12.5 ounces of gold, or about $15,000 at current prices. I’d say that the measure of inflation you were using understates the actual damage.
“Damage”.
Y’know… Given that the one constant you can find in any history of any given currency is that the value in purchasing power is constantly dropping from what it is initially pegged at…? I’m not really sure that there’s any significant information to be had in that value drop. It seems to be in the nature of things…
Why, it is almost as if money is a game we play with ourselves…