Now in the D&D world we have moneychangers. But how come no world has a moneyer? I have yet to see a profession list which does have a moneyer on it. Now, we still have moneychangers today. Just go to some cities, which have international tourists. In Berlin, you could change dollars to, east marks, west marks, pounds, francs, and rubles. So exchanging that new found old money in for current city state coin is old hat for your average party, if the DM even worries about it. But what is a moneyer? What does he do? How can you fit the position in your game?
A moneyer is expert craftsman who job is to create new coins from old or new coins from bullion. Other names for moneyer are coiner, and minter. The job has two parts, making the die and stamping and or casting the coin.
The die making process is very simple just requiring some blacksmithing and engraving skill. The basic process with some variation is as follows. First two rods are forge about six inches long. Polish smooth and flat one end of rod. Using small punches and other tools engrave and punch the design obverse (heads) into smooth polish edge. Repeat for reverse (tails) rod. Heat treat and temper design ends of the rods. The result is the working dies. The dies do not have to always be two rods with the reverse stuck into a hole in a stump. Some die of reverse could be a square chuck of metal with spike tail which is place in the hardy hole of anvils or drove into a stump. The face of square would have the design in center.
Dies depending on the country and time were limited in where they could be manufactured. However money could be minted in various locals. For example to change the current process of today in the United States the plates would be created at the mint but the regional federal banks would print dollars at their location. So in my neck of the woods the plates would be created in D.C. and shipped to Atlanta Ga. When the Atlanta bank needed more dollars, they would print their own.
Coin making process is simple but long. Old coins or bullion is collected and the amount received is noted. The coins and bullion are melted. The molten metal is poured in sheet forms. The sheet is cut into strips. Then using a punch or large snips the planchet is cut. Think of the planchet as token or slug. The planchet is then stamped. Since the die was generally oversized, the coin is trimmed. Think of the oversize like a penny is bigger than a dime, so the dies would be penny sized and coin trimmed down to dime size. The coin is weighted. More trimming may take place. If the coin weight was too low back, the coin goes back in melting pot. However not each individual piece was not generally weighted but it could be. Also various laws and tradition require the final product to be assay, however except for the annual Trail of Pyx, the coins were rarely assayed. The process was the same irregardless of the metal (silver or gold) struck.
The new coins, minus the moneyer’s cut and king’s cut, are return to the customer. The average percentage for the moneyer in England was six coins per pound or about one percent. The king’s cut varied but about six pennies per pound weight was the average. The money from moneyer’s cut had pay salaries and materials but generally was enough to be very profitable.
Some countries and people including the Celts cast their coins. I have not done any research on how the molds were made. However some planchets were cast in reusable molds. Take heavy duty crucible fill with scrap gold. Heat the crucible to pouring temperature, which is above the degree just to get the material to melt. Pour the liquid gold into a two part mold (think a fish sinker or bullet mold). Let cool. Open mold. Cut off flashing and return flashing to pot. Give planchet to striker.
Coins stayed in circulation long pass the time they were due to be turned in for reissue since the holder would lose face value due to debasing of coinage. Coins became worn either by normal wear or clipping. Clipping is not what gets your team a ten yard penalty during the Super Bowl. Clipping when it relates to coins is snipping a small amount from the coin. If you clip enough coins you can melt the scraps into bullion. Clipping can be stop in various ways. Laws stating if certain words or designs are not whole then the coin is not worth face value. Rimming is another way. Look at United States penny, on the face is Lincoln and the words In God we trust, Liberty, and the year. On the reverse of the penny are the Lincoln Memorial and the words United States of America, one cent. King George Washington could pass a law stating if letters of wording is not whole merchants can not accept the coin. The penalty for clipping if found guilty was generally hanging. Rimming is best shown by looking at the edge of United States quarter or dime. The ridges are the rimming. Words have also been used for rimming. Debasing is the reason Henry the VIII was nickname ‘Old Copper nose’, when on the third coinage of his money he lessen the silver content. So high relief areas like the nose wore quicker to show the copper base.
You can use a moneyer in your campaign by reflecting modern times. You can’t buy a soft drink in downtown New York with Japanese Yen. So have each nation, or city state create its own coinage. To keep with the PH, we will assume all moneyers make coins the same size in PH. Now when Bucky the Wonder Paladin goes to buy flowers for Sue Succubus in the Greyhawk city; he either is not going to get lucky that night. Or be fined for passing funny money.
Coin craft’s English and UK coins 1066 to Date www.coincraft.com
America’s Money America’s story by Richard Doty.
Coins and minting by Denis cooper note shire album version is abridge version of his original book The Art and craft of coin making: a history of minting technology
Notes on the Organization of Minting in Medieval England (taken from Challis: History of the Royal Mint, 1992)
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/925edgar-coinregs.html Medieval Source book Edward the Elder: Coinage Regulations, C 902-925
Aethelred Unraedy: the Laws of London, 978
Originally posted by jasper
Moneyers and Money
You can use a moneyer in your campaign by reflecting modern times. You can’t buy a soft drink in downtown New York with Japanese Yen. So have each nation, or city state create its own coinage. To keep with the PH, we will assume all moneyers make coins the same size in PH. Now when Bucky the Wonder Paladin goes to buy flowers for Sue Succubus in the Greyhawk city; he either is not going to get lucky that night. Or be fined for passing funny money.
Except that in those times, if one got some money that was unfamiliar, it was simply valued as to the weight/value of the precious metal in it. Thus, even if I don't recognize the face on that coin, a 1/4 oz of gold is still a 1/4 oz of gold. Assayers and moneychangers made their living through this.
In the medieval period, most coins were "silver pennies" which indeed, were about the size of a dime, and having 1/10th>1/20 of an oz of silver. Some few were much larger- the size of today’s 50 cent piece. Really, you would have more like 150 coins to the #. They have found hordes of thousands of the smaller dime sized coins. You can buy one on ebay that is period and in cruddy shape for maybe $10 or less. The Romans used a lot of bronze coins- they are so common you can buy them now by the #.
Gold coins were mostly of "account" and the standard for centuries was the sovereign, which is a gold coin containing about a 1/4 oz of gold- about the size of a nickel- or a $5 US "gold piece". (this is where they got 50 coins to the #). Just about every nation made one (until around the Great Depression of the 1930s, and they were accepted pretty universally- although they were sometimes weighed.
The "double eagle" or the $20 gold piece (which has about an oz of gold) came much later, and was never widely used in circulation. The Silver $ also had about an oz of silver in it, but silver coins that big were circulated. Note for History buffs- this was why coins in the old D&D were 10/# as there are 12 troy oz to the troy pound. .
I don't know about yours, but in my FR world, there are more currencies than there are nations. However, all merchants accepts foreign currencies of intrinsic value, such as copper, silver, gold, platina and of course gems. Scales are used to determine value of coins (with the appraise skill. )
And trade bars are even easier to appraise as they come in set weights.
Of course, in small shops they might not accept any currency than national one, so having some local currency is a must for adventurers. Moneychangers usually charge 5-10% cut when changing money, but usually accepts almost all kinds of currency.
But to simplify things, using the standard D&D currencies saves a lot of bookkeeping for both the players and the DM, and is highly recommended.
Over time they became expert counterfeiters. I suppose a high-INT rogue with many picks in Profession (Minter) and Forgery skills could make a LOT of money very fast. Of course, he'd also run a huge risk of making a lot of powerful enemies too, very fast. All in all it could make for a great campaign.
I once DM'd a campaign set in the middle of an inland sea (kind of like the Mediterranean), on a fictitious island near the middle of it (kind of like Malta). There were three or four different empires trading through this "free-city" type island, with three or four different currencies competing with each other. If you knew, for example, that Empire B was about to take a province from Empire C, you could capitalize on it by changing your currency investments appropriately . . . without attracting too much attention as you did so (my campaign didn't have a SEC, so no Martha Stewart charges of insider trading either).