Gold-Silver-Copper Standard: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Spice and Wolf]]'' has... far too many currency systems to even remember, but their values are definitely based on gold and silver content. More important than that, however, is the trust that the traders give to the coin. A tiny shift in precious metal content can lead to huge shift in value; very much like it used to be in real life, in fact.

 

 

 

* ''[[Dungeons & 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—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.)