The History of Britain’s Gold Coinage

Gold coinage wouldn’t typically have been used by ordinary working people, who instead used smaller silver denominations, and significant gold coins would have been used by wealthy tradesmen and nobility. The value of gold coins fluctuated through the centuries in relation to the value and availability of precious metals, which often saw the need for new coins of the same lower value as previous denominations. In 1816, an official single gold standard was introduced to prevent such fluctuations.