# The Currency in your World



## Helleaven (Jun 26, 2012)

What kind of currencies are you using in your worlds?

What is the name of your chief monetary unit?

I am going to use the classical bronze, silver and gold system. 40 bronze equals 1 silver and 100 silver equals 1 gold. Then I thought about the name for this currencies. I thought that I was going to use some words from the language I'm creating. Then I've came up with another idea.

What do you feel about this naming below:

40 bronze leaf = 1 silver branch

100 silver branch = 1 golden tree

It makes sense to me and I actually like the metaphor in the naming. What do you think?


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## Devor (Jun 26, 2012)

In my work in progress, I'll figure out when it becomes necessary.

In another story, I just used silver coins, where a "penny" was the price of a good sheep and something like 200 pennies were worth a bigger silver coin.  But that's what was accurate for the timeperiod my setting was placed in.

I'm under the impression that Copper/Bronze didn't see much use in the medieval world, at least in places which had access to gold and silver.  IRL, the more metals you use for money, the faster your money inflates.  You would want the rate of gold/silver/bronze mining to match fairly closely to the population trends.


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## JonSnow (Jun 26, 2012)

I also use copper/silver/gold coin system. I don't go into specifics as to how much certain items cost, or how many coppers make a silver, etc. But it is made known the order of value is copper-> silver-> gold. It is a good, reliable system  

With currency, as well as character names and cities, I'm always worried that I am using a name that has been used before, though I don't think we can help it at this point, given how much fantasy is out there. I actually had the name "Rand" as one of my main characters before I read The Wheel of Time. Obviously I had to change it. But I have been gun-shy ever since. 

Anyway, the name of my world is Irgoth, so in the interest of simplicity, I use "goth" coins as the currency. Gothcoppers, Gothsilvers, Gothgolds.


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## Telcontar (Jun 26, 2012)

Helleaven: precious metals are tried and true, of course, and your names are fine - IF there is a reason for them. Why are they called leaf, branch, and tree? Is this imagery important to the history, mythology, or religion of some powerful society?

Furthermore, remember that most nations had their own currency, and while there were often shared elements - the use of gold and silver being a famous example - they differed in size, commonality, purity, name, conversion rates, etc.


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## Forsta-Phoenix (Jun 26, 2012)

I remember reading somewhere, and it is probably false, that the lowest denomination of Roman currency was usually enough to buy a meal. Regardless of how truthful that bit of information is most currencies have a lowest "useful" denomination, i.e. a base to build upon, if you're going with trees as the naming convention then maybe bronze coins could be called "roots", silver "branches" and gold "leaves" or "flowers" (seeing as how gold is often the showiest of the rare metals). Not trying to tell you what to call things in your world or anything, just the first thing that popped into my head when I read your post!


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## Queshire (Jun 26, 2012)

I haven't given this much thought until reading this thread actually, but here's what I have so far;

-Most countries / cultures have their own currency with varying names and values. These common currencies are used by the citizens for day to day stuff, just like in real life.

-There's also a standardized currency often used in international matters. People like Nobles, Merchants, or Adventurers that don't want to rely on potentially fluctuating currnecy use it. This currency is refered to as Shards. They are litterally shards of various magical materials. How much an indivdual shard is worth depends on the material and how much it weighs. The value of these shards come from their rarity and scarcity. Shards have to either be scavenged from magitech wonders left over from the Age of Legends or mined from naturally magically dense areas. Both of which are rather dangerous jobs. While these materials can be used in spells and magitech machines, and that was their first use, much of the knowledge of utilizing them in that manner has been lost.

-The reason magical materials are used instead of just normal precious materials is because normal materials can be alchemized and thus mass produced. While it's easy to tell alchemized materials from natural ones if you know what to look for (alchemized materials lack any form of flaws or impurity, they're TOO perfect) the risk is too much for a standardized international currency.

-Even a shard with a relatively low value is still worth a lot to commoners, a piece of celestial bronze the size of an average rock is enough to buy dinner, rent a room for the night, and pay for breakfast at an average inn with enough left over to pay the "adventurer's insurance," reimbursing the inn owner for the common chaos that tends to follow adventurers around ie: bar brawls, guards bursting in to arrest the adventurers in the middle of the night, demon assassins, etc and so on.


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## ThinkerX (Jun 26, 2012)

For the main nation of the main world, I go with a loose varient of the old Roman system (because that is where these people originally came from).  

The main denomination or coin is the silver Dinar or Denarius and is how costs are almost always figured.  Most ordinary sorts make around 10 - 20 dinar a day.  For really poor sorts, it would be just a couple dinar, for the wealthier types, up to around 100 dinar a day.  


Below the Dinar are iron, brass, or copper bits, checking in at around 1/10th - 1/5th the value of the Dinar (not strictly accurate historically speaking, but an attempt on my  part to avoid confusing the reader over much).  A 'bit' will usually get you a cup of ale or a bowl of gruel.  A couple of them will get you a dirt cheap bunk for the night.  Pretty much its 'pocket change'.

Gold Aures, worth ten Dinar (again not historically accurate) exist, but are used only for really major transactions - like buying a carriage or ship. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

My other world is not all that metal rich, but does have lots of coastlines, so it is on a copper or brass standard (nation depending) rather than silver.  The bottom level of 'coins' here are sea shells, which again, count as 'pocket change'.


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## Benjamin Clayborne (Jun 26, 2012)

Helleaven said:


> What kind of currencies are you using in your worlds?
> 
> What is the name of your chief monetary unit?
> 
> ...



I'm using a generic copper/silver/gold system. Gold coins are sometimes referred to as "crowns" and silver coins as "eagles" (owing to the seal of the royal house on the back, which is an eagle). Copper coins are just coppers.

I've done a lot of world-building, but for some reason I never really got to the point of making any elaborate system of coinage.


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## Saigonnus (Jun 26, 2012)

My coinage is fairly basic where it's used, much of the smaller villages and the like work more with a barter system. Copper, Silver, Gold coins generally differ in weight and value with the kingdoms they are used in. The kingdom in my WIP has a trade value of 30 copper to a silver  and 15 silver to a gold crowns, beyond that gems or precious stones are used as currency. 

Prices are fairly cheap for most things, at 5 copper a night at a cheap inn, 1 for a pint of local ale/beer, 2 for local wine. A simple meal (usually soup or stew with bread) is 2 also and 3 or 4 for a more extravagant meal (like meat and potatoes with bread). Basically trained horses are usually around 5 silver, three times that for a warhorse. I think any story should have at least a basic, functioning economy to add that depth to the story.


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## Sheilawisz (Jun 27, 2012)

The money is something that is not often mentioned in Fantasy literature, or at least, what the money and the economy are like in a Fantasy world is not explained in detail... That does not surprise me really, because real-world economy is something that most people consider complicated and boring =)

In my Fantasy worlds money is rarely mentioned: My stories are about Mages, and they do not really need money because they can make anything they want appear out of nowhere- The common people are said to use silver coins and diamonds as money, and the Mages sometimes use magically-made silver to buy things for fun when they visit the cities.

They appreciate plum juice made with natural plums and wine made with natural grapes!!

This is a fun thread, Helleaven =)


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## Caged Maiden (Jun 27, 2012)

To me, the copper silver gold method just brings up D&D thoughts.  So I used the late Renaissance money of Queen Elizabeth's time.  Each of my kingdoms mints its own coins, and there is corresponding values between kingdoms for the sake of commerce, and I sort of assigned a dollar amount to each coin by today's standards to keep with consistency.  So a $100 value coin will buy you a pearl necklace, a fine pair of shoes or a yearling pig, that sort of thing.  

Here's my break down:

Rheinguard:

 Sovereign: (1 pound Elizabethan) $200 current, a gold coin with the king's face, and the preferred method for banking.

Crown: (5 shillings Elizabethan)  $50 current, a silver coin featuring the royal arms.

Shilling (1 shilling Elizabethan) $10 current, a bronze coin I never detailed.

Groat: (5 pence Elizabethan) $5 current, copper coin.

Penny: (1 penny Elizabethan) $1 current, copper coin.


Brazelton:

 Lorraine: (1/2 pound Elizabethan) $100 current, a  silver coin with the mayor's wife's face, also called pretty ladies.

Royle: (5 shillings Elizabethan)  $50 current, a silver coin featuring the mayor's face.

Half Royle: (2 and 5 Elizabethan) $25 current, a bronze coin I never detailed.

Gill: (1 shilling Elizabethan) $10 current, a bronze coin I never detailed.

Half Gill: (5 pence Elizabethan) $5 current, copper coin.


Adelmoor: 

Crown: (5 shillings Elizabethan)  $50 current, a silver coin with their royal arms.

Shilling: (1 shilling Elizabethan) $10 current, a bronze coin.

Groat: (5 pence Elizabethan) $5 current, a copper coin.

Penny: (1 penny Elizabethan) $1 current, a copper coin.


The thing with money, is that a coin is a coin, so if people travel, they can spend their money wherever they are, so consistency was a factor when I decided on this system.  Money isn't a big part of my world, but i liked to assign current day values so I knew what one coin could buy.  I hope this gives you some ideas, it's really to do research on money used in Europe's past, and there was loads of it floating around in foreign lands, so I assume (without doing a lot of research) that people accepted foreign currency by weight and value.  So anyways, for my relatively unresearched money system, this is what I came up with.


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## Helleaven (Jun 27, 2012)

I see that everyone has a different approach upon this subject. Some are simple, some are complicated enough to compare with today's minor economical system. (I'm not much of an economist, actually I hated that lectures in university.) It's really a complicated matter but I guess we have to simplify it in order to keep readers' interest in the story.

I don't know how it is in your countries, but we still have some gold coins which you can buy from jewellery shops. Those are called Republic Gold and they have three different variations (quarter gold coin, half gold coin, full gold coin) They are not being used in daily trade, only given as gifts in weddings or when someone gives birth to a baby. So when I look it that way and twist it a bit, I can see that gold coins are still in use. So why not the silver and copper/bronze?

There are some important and valuable informations which all of you have mentioned. Such as the difference of the materials from country to country. I thank you all for your contribution. 

As for my naming, it is completely a metaphorical thing.

A tree has many branches on it, and even more leaves. A branch has many leaves on it. Just like the money. A (gold) tree embodies lots of (silver) branches, and even more (bronze/copper) leaves. A branch embodies lots of leaves. Just like one gold tree can also be seen as tons of broze leaves or many silver branches. 

I hope that I've explained it well enough.


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## Mindfire (Jun 27, 2012)

I like your system. I really only have 3 countries that have standardized currencies, and each of them uses a different valuable material for their coinage, with the currency being related to that country somehow, either to the geographic region, or their national crest. Mavaria's currency is gold palms- meaning the tree- because they're a desert nation. Elyssia uses ivory crowns. And Beorgia's currency is silver scales- as in fish scales. Coin usage is more popular in Beorgia and Elyssia because they're the more industrialized countries. In Mavaria however, bartering is still the standard between clans and families, with coins being used mostly in cities and trading posts in order to standardize the value of certain goods. There are no standardized economic systems outside these three countries, as all of my other people-groups don't have a lifestyle that really calls for "money" as a concept. As for international trading, bartering is used, but there is something of an exchange rate where a certain weight of gold = a certain weight of silver = a certain weight of ivory.


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## ScipioSmith (Jun 27, 2012)

The Empire uses the copper, silver, gold system (copper pennies, silver shillings, silver centuries, golden triumphs and gold eternals) but because there is far more silver in the Empire than gold the highest practical denomination is the Century, with triumphs and eternals being much rarer; in fact almost all of the Eternals- the gold content of which has never been debased in Imperial history- being held by the treasury to back the economy. 

I'm still having a little trouble with what these coins are worth in practical terms though: it is an immutable point in backstory that the price of a fit, strong slave boy of 13 years is equivalent to the cost of a modest house, but exactly what that price is is something I can't seem to settle on.


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## Queshire (Jun 28, 2012)

I've been tweaking my setting and thusly I need to tweak my currency. My new setting is basically Fallout with magic and less grimdark.

Instead of Kingdoms, the largest settlement are well fortified City States. Not big enough to have their own currency, and unlikely to use worthless pre-apocalypse artifacts as currency. I never did get why they used bottlecaps as money in Fallout :/ I mean in the first game they were appearently backed by the water merchants, but still, that's pretty stupid.

Hrm, anyways, too that end, I'm keeping the Shards, but instead of having them as simple shiny rocks they're basically magical batteries. They power magical tools, serve as ammo for magical guns, and when ground up serve as an important ingrident in magical potions.

I'm considering including more rare elemental shards which have unique properties but wouldn't be used as currency, so for instance a fire shard would serve as a heater in winter or a water shard would purify water, but I'm worried that might overcomplicate things, would it be better to just have normal machines run by regular shards?

I'm also considering renaming shards to something like jewels, gems, or maybe something punny like jouwels (from joules, a unit of energy, which, as magical batteries, they are, and jewels, which they look like)

What do you guys think? I woulda asked this in my other thread, but as it's about currency I figured here would be better.


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## Fnord (Jun 28, 2012)

It really comes down to something being a store of value, easily transported, easily measurable, and sufficiently "scarce" enough not to disrupt the price system.  But even precious metals have their pitfalls; after all it's not the hunks of metal you want, but the stuff hunks of metal buy. The Spanish Empire learned that the hard way as they plundered the New World of gold while the British actually left with useful resources like timber.  You can't build ships out of gold or eat it, and the Spanish saw little more than price inflation for all their efforts.  

But you honestly don't have to be too complicated with it.  Interesting names and traits are always a treat though; such as the Dragonlance novels having steel coinage because after the Cataclysm people had a real use for steel as an object rather than gold or silver.  A currency simply is only as useful as long as other people value it.  It'd be interesting to read a story where someone who hoarded tons of gold (maybe a dragon!) suddenly discovered after a turn of events (massive economic disruption, a meteor made of solid gold crashing into the world, etc) that their entire hoard was completely worthless.

Let aluminum be a lesson: in Roman times it was more valuable than gold (and well into the last couple hundred years which is why the top of the Washington Monument is tipped with aluminum) and now we wrap our leftovers in it.  Electrolysis changed everything!


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## shangrila (Jun 29, 2012)

I've called mine "crowns", with half crowns and quart crowns being the only others. I _was_ using gold and silver, but I'm thinking of swapping it to something else. Perhaps copper.


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## SeverinR (Jun 29, 2012)

I use gold, silver and copper, as nicknames for money, easier for the lay person to understand, even if one country might not except the others money.
I have not named the coins, but in all systems gold would be the primary coin.

Thinking one might be crown(probably the evil empire-power hungry king), eagle for the good nation, Maybe talons for a third?

Just designed my money, did each of the three.

Tried to upload, unacceptable format x3.  Gave up.


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## BWFoster78 (Jul 12, 2012)

I too am using a simple copper/silver/gold system.  However, I need to have a handle on the relationship between them.  I like 10 silvers to a gold.  Not quite as sure on how many copper to a silver; I'd like to go with 10, but not sure that works.

Also, I think I'd like a coin that represented a fraction of a copper.  I was thinking that 5 coppers for dinner and breakfast, as share of a room, and a bath is a fair price.  Then I had the guy tip the barmaid.  In that case, a copper is way too much.  

Questions:

1. Do factors of ten work for converting copper to silver to gold?  If not, any recommendations?

2. What's a good term for a fraction of a copper?

Thanks.


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## Devor (Jul 12, 2012)

I don't think there's anything wrong with a standard 100 copper, 10 silver, 1 gold currency. It's not really accurate for the history - to be honest it reminds me of D&D - but in a fantasy world there's nothing wrong with simple and relatable. But to me, it's like using orcs and elves - something I've also defended - in that you're trading depth for simplicity, an exchange that sometimes has value.


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## Chilari (Jul 12, 2012)

None. Seriously. No currency. No coinage. It's proving interesting to get my head around, but given I've based the culture on roughly 9th century BC Greece and coinage didn't come about until the 6th century BC (ish) my culture also has no coinage. But since I won't be going into too much detail regarding exchange rates between various commoditites I should be fine.

For those looking for a different form of currency, don't forget that electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold, can be used for coinage, and indeed was in the ancient world. I like to imagine we can see the vestiges of it still in Â£2 and €1 coins, which have silver-coloured and gold-coloured metals with the latter forming a ring around the former, with the €2 coin inverted.


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## Kit (Jul 12, 2012)

I'm so relieved to hear that I'm not the only one who just did not want to deal with coins and currency. I might need to touch on it for some cultures in my story, but my MC's do not use any metal, any jewelry; they have a real aversion to keeping/carrying around crap with them that doesn't have a practical use. They wouldn't really get why gold was supposed to be valuable, and would probably not be very excited about exchanging a fishnet that they had spent weeks preparing fibers for and more weeks knotting for a disc of shiny crap that doesn't appear to have a function. I want them to barter with outside cultures for what they need- they do produce and collect stuff that other people want- although I'm kind of anxious that this is eventually going to turn into a PITA as regards transporting the goods and being able to pay for stuff while they travel. I'm thinking of having them make little carvings and things that will be easily transportable, just for the purpose of selling to the gullible outlanders who for some reason will trade decent food for such fripperies.


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## Jess A (Jul 12, 2012)

I went to the Shanghai Museum the other day and they had a fantastic collection of ancient to modern coins from all over the world. They had a whole 'Silk Road' section, too. 

I have a pamphlet here. It says the Chinese were using paper notes as early as the 13th century. It says here that merchants issued a "kind of paper note called 'Jiao Zi' for trade, which became the earliest paper note in the world". This was to combat the weight of iron coins, which are hard to carry around. They also had coins made of tin and iron. And coins shaped like spades and swords, keys and large engraved rocks - there are even bronze coins which look like ants and tribal faces. They used shells and bones too.

Some coins were tiny. Some were enormous! Imagine carrying an iron dinner plate-sized coin around with you. 

I have some basic ideas for my money system. Coins and bartering. I want to keep it simple. I haven't thought much beyond that, but I have some research to play with. I don't want my characters to be dragging around clunky coins. I may look into 'paper' notes for international trade, though gold, silver and other precious metals will work, too, as well as other commodities, such as timber and rare furs, silks and in some areas, slaves.

Each duchy will probably have the monarch on one side and the duchy's symbol on the other with the amount. The Euro has different countries on each coin. Like the Euro, the different duchy coins are otherwise the same and can be traded anywhere in the kingdom.


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## Lawfire (Jul 13, 2012)

I like precious metals (and stones) as currency. However, many stories can be told without ever mentioning them.


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## Lunaairis (Aug 6, 2012)

If your making a fantasy world and your going through the trouble of coming up with coinage, it’s important to note what are the coins measuring, because that is their value. This is especially important if you are a GM, so things don’t sound too cheap or too expensive.  You don’t need to go thought the evolution of money , but if you are going to use a really small coin there must be a reason to use it.  So here are some helpful things I picked up in history class.

*History lesson:*

 	 Coins were invented so people wouldn't have to carry around all their large and not that valuable goods like bushels of wheat. A bushel of wheat was not that valuable and many of them were needed to buy a sheep, for instance. This means that the man of the house (in some cases) would need to carry something like 30 or more bushels to his local market in order to trade for a sheep. One man carrying 30 Bushels is burdensome;  of course he could have his 10 children help carry them but this just means more mouths to feed , which means less wheat to trade for better things.
 Not only that, he also needs to find people to trade his wheat with. 
Coins were invented so that one person could sell his stock one day and then  be free to search around the market for things to take home, no matter if it was something the seller was willing to trade with. This means that the coins the man uses to buy the sheep can get the sheep trader something else, like a donkey.
 The coins would not go bad meaning that he could come back another time to pick something else up if needed and not be lugging around another sheep to trade with.  (Or 30+ bushels of wheat)

*The good part:*


        Originally Coins would represent the weight of an object.  They were usually named after either the weight or the object they were meant to be . A great example being the Mesopotamian Shekel which was not only a coin but also a unit of weight referring to 180 grams of barley. (Or one loaf of plain bread) This means if you have 1 shekel you should be able to buy one loaf of bread for the day.
So if you’re going to tip someone, tipping them one loaf of bread is good and cheap,  if you want a room for the night you could pay… 50 shekels? Depending on the place. The larger coins were invented because walking around with 100 shekels in your pocket was cumbersome, so why not just change the 100 into 1 Mina ( I don’t remember what their larger coins were called, so please bare with me)  which could buy you a goat  or something. This process continued until there is nothing really more expensive.


         Of course your D&D Coppers don’t need to measure up with 1 bushel of wheat they could measure up with a bucket of apples if apples are a common and wanted food source or something. Gorons may measure there cheapest coin up with a pebble (seeing as they eat rocks and ores.) Of course its not limited to food, but food is something all creatures (humans, elf's, Squid-people) would want.


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## johnsonjoshuak (Aug 6, 2012)

Because I intend to have several series set in the same world, I've worked out several different currency systems.

For my current Series-In-Progress, I use the copper-silver-gold standard, named Pennies, Shields and Crowns respectively. Other series include Imperial Schilling-Farthing-Guilder-Mark, Copper-Silver-Gold-Platinum Drachmas. There are a couple of Random Generator sites floating around that generate awesome name combinations for currency (my favorite is Seventh Sanctum , but Chaotic Shiny has a nifty "value" option that breaks down the currency into other units).


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## Renee (Aug 7, 2012)

Helleaven said:


> What kind of currencies are you using in your worlds?
> 
> What is the name of your chief monetary unit?
> 
> ...



I've worked in banking for ten years, plus I'm a journeyman moneyer in the SCA. In other words, I am a money nerd and am LOVING this thread! Thank you for posting this!

Here are my thoughts on naming currency in general and your question in particular. These are legitimate coins I assume, meaning there is likely a mint, and behind that mint, a government of some sort. A body in power. And currency is a powerful and pervasive political symbol, something that wouldn't be lost on the people at the mint. It's a reminder of political power (portraits), ideals the government holds in high regard (Liberty dimes, etc), or cultural symbols (Australia's Kangaroo dollar coin). The choice reflects the mindset of the folks in power: a martial state is probably not going to put a cute furry animal on their coins.

So the government decides what to put on the coins, and the official name for the coins often comes from some part of the political forces in play when the currency was developed. For example, we use the dollar in the United States because it was a well known unit for currencies but it wasn't British. Earlier societies named their coinage based on several factors, but commonly it was based on what the holder could get in exchange (as was very well described, above).

There is a second source for names of coins: the populace. People are going to make up their own names for coins. My favorite example of this is the "Loonies and Toonies" up in Canada. 

To me, the leave-branch-tree imagery is one of a serene, nature loving people. Does this describe the government that issued them? As a reader, I would be skeptical of a Klingon-type race that trades in 'branches' and 'trees.' 

Because you are taking the time to introduce something different from the traditional/common & comfortable denomination names, referencing something in the story that the reader would recognize would make it more comfortable. Example, a story with a theocratic government based on an order of people who worshiped nature. In the prologue, you tell the story of a mythic oak that was said to grow on the grave of a great hero of the realm, one of the founders. Later, when your hero pays three trees, forty branches for his new steed, the observant reader will get the connection.

Also, as a reader, I'd suggest altering the names a bit. As I wrote the above sentence about the horse, I couldn't avoid the imagery of a man handing over the actual items. Plus, people like gold and silver so much because they are rare; trees, branches, and leaves, not so much. You could hold on to the original imagery calling them something different but explain somewhere that the names mean "leaf-branch-tree." As an alternative, going back to what people might take to calling them, give them nicknames: Oaks, Boughs, and Flats (or, you know, something). As support for nicknames, I'll point out that in my neck of the woods we use US Dollars, but if someone asks me how much they owe me for dinner, I'm going to tell them "Just give me twenty bucks and we're even!"


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## Ireth (Aug 16, 2012)

Renee said:


> As support for nicknames, I'll point out that in my neck of the woods we use US Dollars, but if someone asks me how much they owe me for dinner, I'm going to tell them "Just give me twenty bucks and we're even!"



Your comment here actually lends credence to the leaf-branch-tree names for the coins. People don't actually pay for things using deer hides anymore, yet we still call dollars "bucks", and "loonies" if you're Canadian (since the $1 coin has a loon on it). Why then can the aforesaid coins not be named after plant-based imagery? As long as it's clear, I don't see a problem.


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## Renee (Aug 17, 2012)

Ireth said:


> Your comment here actually lends credence to the leaf-branch-tree names for the coins. People don't actually pay for things using deer hides anymore, yet we still call dollars "bucks", and "loonies" if you're Canadian (since the $1 coin has a loon on it). Why then can the aforesaid coins not be named after plant-based imagery? As long as it's clear, I don't see a problem.



Agreed! As long as it makes sense. The question is if the names are nicknames, like "bucks" and "loonies," or if that's what the official term is. I got the sense that the OP was referring to the tree-branch-leaf system as the official names, designated by the issuing authority, or possibly nicknames based on the designs printed on the coins.


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## Mizily (Aug 20, 2012)

Tin shells, bronze spades, silver zephrs and golden pyres- meant to represent the four elements and the lands that stem from each, and their worth representing the social hierarchy. Sadly, I know nothing about economics, so any usage of this currency will probably be vague and skimmed over.


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## Zero Angel (Aug 20, 2012)

I really only use currency between kingdoms, merchants and travelers. Every village probably has at least one set of scales for "hard" money, but the average joe uses barter if they can.

I am speaking of humes here though. Other races are more likely to have currencies depending on their civilizations. Dwarves in particular like hard money, while elves use chips that hold magick power (think batteries as currency).


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## Astner (Aug 20, 2012)

Gold and silver -- sovereigns and noblemen respectively, based on that the gold coins have the emperor families's faces on them and the silver coins have the faces of various lords -- are the official currencies, but they rarely leave the noble and royal circles. The copper coins used by merchants and peasants to trade goods solely have an intrinsic value and suffers from inflation.

The mass ratio of silver to gold is ~1/60, and the mass ratio from copper to silver is ~1/180.


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