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Gold-Silver-Copper Standard: Difference between revisions

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When using the '''Gold-Silver-Copper Standard''', expect the coins to use a decimal system—a coin will be worth ten times the denomination below it and one tenth the denomination above it, so that 1 gold = 10 silver = 100 copper (though occasionally units of 100 are used instead of 10). This has absolutely no basis in fact—even if coins were minted to deliberately have this relationship, the prices of metals varies, and the "exchange rate" between different coins would fluctuate with time just as exchange rates between currencies do. This is generally an [[Acceptable Break From Reality]], as very few people would be interested in doing "realistic" calculations of this nature, [[Writers Cannot Do Math|especially writers]].
 
The trope title is a reference to the [[wikipedia:Gold standard|gold standard]], when paper money is set to be worth a fixed amount of gold, but the trope is otherwise unrelated to the concept. Expect to see the coins in a Gold -Silver -Copper Standard economy referred to as [metal] piece or [metal] coin; when they're given another name, it can overlap with [[Fictional Currency]]. [[Tasty Gold]] is related, for checking the purity of the gold coins. Often a [[Global Currency]], though that's [[Justified Trope|understandable]], as the value in the coins comes from the precious metal itself. May be combined with [[Silver Has Mystic Powers]] to make gold more (and bronze/copper less) powerful than silver. For settings where transactions are done almost exclusively in gold, see [[Cheap Gold Coins]].
 
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** The fourth game used gold Crowns and copper Kopeks (100 per Crown).
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', though the Seven Villages use beads and rings instead of coins as they're in a rather metal-poor region.
 
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* The [[wikipedia:Tokugawa coinage|coinage of Japan during the Tokugawa period]] actually used a system much like this with several, large-denomination gold coins (generally oval), a smaller rectangular coin made of silver with a fixed value relative to the gold coins and finally several denomination of smaller copper or bronze coins (circular with a hole in the middle so they could be strung together for convenient transportation).
* From 1792 to 1873, the United States Treasury operated on a "bimetallic" standard, where the dollar values of both gold ''and'' silver were fixed. The ratio between the two was 15-to-1 until 1834, when it was changed by an act of Congress to 16-to-1; that is, 1 Troy ounce of 24-karat gold was worth exactly the same number of dollars as 15 (or 16) Troy ounces of .999-fine silver. Since the actual value of gold and silver tended to fluctuate on the world market—notmarket — not only relative to other currencies, but relative to each other—thisother — this gold-and-silver standard created a fair share of problems. Ten-dollar gold coins had a special name: They were called "Eagles."
 
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