And onto part 2 of my question, I know theres a lot of different types of coins in the Realms, aside from the standard PP GP SP CP, Like Sembia has the Steelpence, Waterdeep has its Habor Moons, Kara-Tur has paper money. Which ones am I forgetting? Was Electrum ever widely used for coins in the Realms? What do they use in the Underdark? Mithril Pieces perhaps?
So yeah, coins, thats the topic. I dont think its really been covered yet, or has it?
The character from Kemps Twilight War novels, Rivalen Thantul, is a collector of coins both ancient and new. This is an indication there is some added value to some rare coins from distant times or places. With the right amount of time to research one could try to find a proper coin collector everytime a new ancient stash of coins is uncovered. But my guess is this is not a common practice.
If you'd get change from a transaction typically one would get payed in several coins minted in both old and new eras. As long as the coin is of the genuine material most folk dont mind if its minted by the ancient Aryvandaar or by the current hellforges of Narfell.
But with symbolic paper money, things change. Not only is cost dependent on supply and demand but also the faith of consumers (both in the market and outside of the market) that their money remains valuable. Look at the crash of the economy recently - lack of faith causes companies to lose trust, and the value of the company declines. Make great business decisions and faith will bolster a company's value.
People collect money for a variety of reasons: nostalgia for a particular period or place (as in the case of Rivalen), for historical purposes, or with the intent of re-selling it to other collectors. Those are just a few reasons. In the Realms, it's largely the case that gold is gold is gold, and most moneytraders will trade up or down based on weight of the gold piece. One gold piece from a particular nation may be smaller or larger than one from another nation, but this isn't too likely to be the case in the Realms because there is a LOT of international trade going on. In the general absence of symbolic paper money, people would have centralized on specific weights for gold, silver, etc. that would by necessity for trade eventually all move toward one standard of weight per piece. You can, of course, make things more complex by having different sized coins if you'd like, but then you'd need to have moneychangers in major trade centers.
That said, really OLD money in treasure troves could be sized and shaped differently than current standards. That would make sense, given that old Empires would have gone with a standard for trade back at the time when they were alive and vibrant societies.
I'd be interested to know what coins look like in different parts of Toril, both past and present. What sort of trends were there? I could imagine the Netheril using various geometeric shapes, like coppers are triangles, silvers are octogons, or what have you. The elves are probly like works of art with intricate paterens and leaf designs. The Dwarves I could see using just slaps of gold or silver with some runes on it spelling out the weight, Clan, and possibly date. I knida curious about Cormyr, who do you suppose they put on their coins? King Azoun IV? the Ist one? the current king?
They could put out a book, called Coins of the Realms, and they could just have pictures of different coins, and I would totally buy that! I dont think that would ever happen, but still I could see something like a visual guide to the Realms or something, and have some pictures of the coins, city scapes, flags and heraldry, potraits of famous characters from throughout its long history. Just a buch of stuff like that, with maybe a short description for each piece of art work. Now if they did something like that they would have a best seller for sure.
But yeah even if it was just coins I would still buy that, I gues I AM a "Fanboi"!
I also found this: Money in Forgotten Realms pdf to download.
And this note on Candlekeep from "The Hooded One" in 2004:
Near the bottom of the page:
Hello, all. Ed finally weighs in on the coin questions from thom (and yes, I can confirm that we found ‘curious’ coins once or twice that we took to sages to identify, nut never had any troubles spending any treasure coins we found. SAVING, now . . . THAT was harder :}):
1. Yes and yes.
2. Sembian coins have the arms of Sembia on one side, and the denomination (above) and the date (in DR) curving around a proof stamp [mint mark] on the other (yes, curving, regardless of the shape of the coin). Sembian coins often have a bluish tinge to them from being cleaned (of the grease they get on them from the stampings) by being held in a flame. The grease is deliberately “cooked into” the iron coins, to inhibit rust (it does a fair, not foolproof, job).
3. Modern Cormyrean coins bear the monarch’s face and name on side, and a date, denomination, and mint mark [almost always a full-on bearded, hatless wizard’s face, known as “Old Vangey,” which denotes the Royal Mint in Suzail, but in about ten percent of coins two parallel crescent moons, horns to the dexter, denoting a High Horn minting] on the other. There’s only been one minting since the death of Azoun IV, and these Regency coins bear the Purple Dragon royal arms with five parallel bars on its body, rather than the face of the infant monarch or of Alusair. Elder Cormyrean coins (eighty years old and older) don’t have dates, but instead “first minting,” “second minting,” and so on, these numbered mintings denoting times during the reign of that monarch that coins were issued (there were eight mintings in the reign of Azoun IV, but three mintings is as high a count as most of the early kings got). They are otherwise identical to more modern coins of the Forest Kingdom.
Cormyrean coins are of very pure metal and heavy weight, and age well, Sembian coins slightly less so -- but the coinages of Waterdeep, Luskan, Mirabar, Silverymoon, Amn, Tethyr, Cormyr, and Sembia are considered the best-made in Faerun, and are most highly valued in trade.
Acceptance of older coins depends on condition and metal: gold coins are accepted everywhere at face value unless they’re broken, unusually small, or obviously impure. Silver coins that have tarnished to black are seldom accepted, but if PCs clean them WITHOUT highly abrasive means that take much of the markings off, they’ll probably be accepted, too (again, unless broken, impure, or small). For everything else, yes, go to a moneychanger (most cities on any coast have several).
Tradebars are widely accepted, because they MUST conform closely to a given size and weight to be accepted at all. They are the best way to melt down and re-use “suspicious” coins, because an existing tradebar can be pressed into clay to easily make a mold for the new one.
A 25-gp tradebar is a “brick with rounded corners” (squared corners broke off too easily, and unscrupulous persons deliberately broke off corners whenever they could, so the custom of rounded corners became the norm) of just over an inch thick, three inches across, and six inches in length. Cali****e tradebars (also used in Tharsult, Tashluta and the Tashalar, and other Southern trade) are seven inches long, but both ‘long sides’ bow smoothly inwards half an inch on each side, making the bar easier to grip.
50-gp tradebars are the same dimensions around their bottoms as 25-gp bars, but are three inches thick, and taper inwards as they rise (to look more like our real-world ‘ingot bars’), so their top surfaces are a half-inch smaller, all around. There are no (legal) bow-sided 50-gp tradebars.
A 75-gp tradebar is an inch thicker (taller) than a 50-gp bar, with no taper to its sides at all.
A 100-gp tradebar is two inches thick, three inches across, and nine inches long, with a central hole (for carrying or for passing a cord through, to tie into bundles). The hole shouldn’t be much more than an inch across.
Proof and ownership marks are commonly stamped into the bottom surface of a tradebar, and don’t affect value.
Very earlier tradebars vary widely in dimensions and value, but are either weighed and valued at that time when traded today, or melted down when they must be transferred from one owner to another.
So saith Ed. thom, I can tell you that we found very few tradebars as treasure (but then, not being Zhents, we weren’t throttling merchants and then pillaging their homes to find our treasure). I suspect most tradebar hoards are hasty burials in the face of advancing foes or fierce weather, and are snapped up when nature or chance digging shifts enough earth to reveal them.
THO
So are there any artists amongst us who would be willing to draw some of them out?
www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products...
but only for the Realms!