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Archiver > LONDON > 1999-05 > 0926323979


From: "malcolm glennie holmes" <>
Subject: Re: 52 pounds ten shillings
Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 18:12:59 +1000


re guineas: in Australia, many professions - doctors, lawyers etc - charged
in guineas until dismalization came in in 1966.
the great advantage of this odd sum was that cheques written in guineas
could not be altered. you wrote fifty guineas and then filled in the number
section with 52 pounds and 10 shillings.
no one could alter the amount without getting into a real muddle, whereas
with fifty pounds, if there was enough space, one hundred could be written
in before the fifty plus the figure 1 before the 50.
but 150 guineas becomes 157 pounds 10 shillings in numbers and it is very
hard to change a zero into a 7.
regards
Malcolm Glennie Holmes
Wagga Wagga
Australia

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