Editing Gold standard (section)

===Gold standard origin in Britain===
The English [[pound sterling]] introduced {{Circa|800 CE}} was initially a silver standard unit worth 20 shillings or 240 silver pennies. The latter initially contained 1.35&nbsp;g fine silver, reduced by 1601 to 0.464&nbsp;g (hence giving way to the shilling [12 pence] of 5.57&nbsp;g fine silver). Hence the pound sterling was originally 324&nbsp;g fine silver reduced to 111.36&nbsp;g by 1601.

The problem of clipped, underweight silver pennies and shillings was a persistent, unresolved issue from the late 17th century to the early 19th century. In 1717 the value of the [[Guinea (coin)|gold guinea (of 7.6885&nbsp;g fine gold)]] was fixed at 21 shillings, resulting in a gold–silver ratio of 15.2, higher than prevailing ratios in Continental Europe. Great Britain was therefore ''de jure'' under a bimetallic standard with gold serving as the cheaper and more reliable currency compared to clipped silver<ref name=":4" /> (full-weight silver coins did not circulate and went to Europe where 21 shillings fetched over a guinea in gold). Several factors helped extend the British gold standard into the 19th century, namely:
* The [[Brazilian Gold Rush]] of the 18th century supplying significant quantities of gold to Portugal and Britain, with [[Portuguese real|Portuguese gold coins]] also legal tender in Britain.
* Ongoing trade deficits with China (which sold to Europe but had little use for European goods) drained silver from the economies of most of Europe. Combined with greater confidence in banknotes issued by the [[Bank of England]], it opened the way for gold as well as banknotes becoming acceptable currency in lieu of silver.
* The acceptability of token / subsidiary silver coins as substitutes for gold before the end of the 18th century. Initially issued by the Bank of England and other private companies, permanent issuance of subsidiary coinage from the [[Royal Mint]] commenced after the [[Great Recoinage of 1816]].

A proclamation from [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] in 1704 introduced the [[British West Indies]] to the gold standard; however, it did not result in the wide use of gold currency and the gold standard, given Britain's [[mercantilism|mercantilist policy]] of hoarding gold and silver from its colonies for use at home. Prices were quoted ''de jure'' in gold pounds sterling but were rarely paid in gold; the colonists' ''de facto'' daily medium of exchange and unit of account was predominantly the [[Spanish dollar|Spanish silver dollar]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4675303/money-colonial-america-currency-history/|title=Early American Colonists Had a Cash Problem. Here's How They Solved It|magazine=Time}}</ref> {{Crossreference|(Also explained in the [[Trinidad and Tobago dollar#History|history of the Trinidad and Tobago dollar]].)}}

[[File:Sovereign_Victoria_1842_662015.jpg|thumb|right|The British [[Sovereign (British coin)|gold sovereign]] or £1 coin was the preeminent circulating gold coin during the classical gold standard period.]]
Following the Napoleonic Wars, Britain legally moved from the bimetallic to the gold standard in the 19th century in several steps, namely:
* The 21-shilling guinea was discontinued in favor of the [[Sovereign (British coin)|20-shilling gold sovereign]], or £1 coin, which contained 7.32238&nbsp;g fine gold
* The permanent issuance of subsidiary, limited legal tender silver coinage, commencing with the [[Great Recoinage of 1816]]
* The 1819 Act for the Resumption of Cash Payments, which set 1823 as the date for resumption of convertibility of Bank of England banknotes into gold sovereigns, and
* The [[Bank Charter Act 1844]], which institutionalized the gold standard in Britain by establishing a ratio between gold reserves held by the [[Bank of England]] versus the banknotes which it could issue, and by significantly curbing the privilege of other British banks to issue banknotes.

From the second half of the 19th century Britain then introduced its gold standard to Australia, New Zealand, and the [[British West Indies]] in the form of circulating gold sovereigns as well as banknotes that were convertible at par into sovereigns or Bank of England banknotes.<ref name=":4" /> Canada introduced its own gold dollar in 1867 at par with the [[U.S. dollar|U.S. gold dollar]] and with a fixed exchange rate to the gold sovereign.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dollar_book.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.bankofcanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/dollar_book.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|author=James Powell|title=A History of the Canadian Dollar|publisher=Ottawa: Bank of Canada|date=2005|pages= 22–23, 33}}</ref>