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{{trope}}
A popular convention for fictional works stuck in [[Medieval Stasis]] or otherwise "primitive" settings is to have money handled by the exchange of precious metals. In almost all of these cases, there will be different denominations of coins differentiated entirely by what metal they're made out of. Usually this takes the form of the Olympic metals -- goldmetals—gold as the highest, silver second, and bronze last (though in coinage, copper is used instead of bronze more often than not). Sometimes [[Rank Inflation|more valuable metals are added]] above gold -- commonlygold—commonly platinum.
 
There is some [[Truth in Television]] to this. Gold and silver coins were used for much of history, and even modern day currencies often invoke this by making their highest denomination coins golden, their middle ones silvery, and their lowest ones copper or bronze. Obviously, gold is more valuable than silver, which is itself more valuable than copper or bronze, but the value of individual coins depends as much on the weight and purity of the coin as it does on the value of the metal itself -- thisitself—this is rarely reflected in fiction. Also rarely used is multiple denominations of coin made out of the same metal; a gold coin weighing twice as much as another gold coin would be worth twice the amount, but don't expect to see anything besides a generic "gold piece" ever mentioned.
 
When using the Gold-Silver-Copper Standard, expect the coins to use a decimal system -- asystem—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 -- evenfact—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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== Tabletop [[RPGs]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' is the [[Trope Codifier]] in modern media; coins from most valuable to least are platinum, gold, silver, and copper at a ratio of 10:1. Previous editions had outliers (electrum, a gold/silver alloy, at half a gold each) and at least one non-decimal exchange rate (5 gold to 1 platinum, 20 silver to 1 gold in 1st Edition, 5 copper to 1 silver in pre-1st-Edition Basic D&D), but these have been done away with over the years.
** In 1st Edition AD&D, the gold piece was more than the basic unit of currency. It was also the basic unit of ''weight''. All coins, including gold pieces, weighed 1/10 of a pound each, and all weights -- theweights—the weight of a suit of armor, the carrying capacity of a character with 17 Strength, the strength of a ''telekinesis'' spell, etc. -- were given in units of gold pieces. (2nd Edition reduced the weight of coins to 1/50 of a pound each, and listed weights and weight-limits in plain old pounds.)
* Similarly ''[[Rune Quest]]'', but prices are usually given in silver Lunars, with copper Clacks being the common street currency and gold Wheels usually having to be changed for silver before they can be spent (though Sun-worshipers use gold on principle).
* [[Role Master]] has a long line of metal coinage, all with decimal exchange rates. 10 iron pieces are worth 1 tin piece, 10 tin pieces = 1 copper piece, 10 copper pieces = 1 bronze piece, 10 bronze pieces = 1 silver piece, 10 silver pieces = 1 gold piece, and 1000 gold pieces = 1 mithril piece. One has to wonder why they didn't just melt down the copper and tin pieces, mix them together, and sell them as bronze pieces.
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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."
 
{{reflist}}
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