Electrum Pieces: Do you still use them?

[Liquidsabre]

I'm afraid the only form of electrum currency my players were willing to use was "carmen electrum"

 

[Rabelais]

Carmen Electrum

Carmen Electrum wasn't worth quite as much after being exposed to Rodmanium.

 

[Terwox]

I dunno what electrum was supposed to be, but we treated at is greenish-glowy coins that were infused with magic at the time of their minting, just to be special.

They were worth 100 gold apiece.

I don't really care what it was supposed to be, it was fun for the party to find some, and be like, woah, 500 electrum!

That or it was currency that a dragon's magic seeped into so it was worth more. etc, etc.

 

[tetsujin28]

No, 'cause they're stupid. Nearly as stupid as platinum pieces.

 

[tetsujin28]

I dunno what electrum was supposed to be, but we treated at is greenish-glowy coins that were infused with magic at the time of their minting, just to be special.

Electrum is a naturally occuring combination of gold and silver. The content ranged from 55.5% to 40% over the passage of time (this is a statistical range). It was rather in vogue as coinage c. 650 BC in Ionia, but went out of fashion c. 100 years later. Syracuse kept striking electrum 'till 345 BC. Incidentally, these are the oldest coins we have from classical antiquity.

Despite its rarity, electrum is not considered as valuable as gold, since along with silver, there's usually some trace minerals included, further devaluing the coin. Also, why make a gold & silver coin, when you can make gold and silver coins? So nearly every Greek polis went over to the silver standard

Why Gygax electrum (which might as well be Gygaxium) occured is a real question. Simply based on the gold standard, there had to be electrum floating all over the place.

A brief, but insightful, overview of coin practices up to the Middle Ages can be found here.

Cheers!

 

[the Jester]

Electrum coins are no longer minted, but there are still plenty in circulation. They're no longer backed by the Imperial mint, however, so they have no 'set' value. Their old official value of 1/2 gp is roughly what their purchasing power is at, however.

 

[Ibram]

my games run on the silver standard, I've never used EP, CP, or PP (except once when a player had a bunch of GP converted to PP to lighten his load).

 

[Ycore Rixle]

Of course we use them. I love them - the word is specific and evocative - they spice up treasure piles - they are more convenient than silver but also make gold seem even more special.

An electrum piece is a 'lucky' in ouy campaign. I believe I got this from the old Gord books from EGG himself.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Nope, the coins may exist in treasure, but are labeled 'Antique coins - Value' followed by thier worth in GP.

Copper and silver see frequent use, as well as gold.

The hardness of platinum precludes the creation of platinum coins. (Platinum is harder than the steel used for the coin press - there is a reason why coins are mage from soft metals.) Cast platinum coins might be possible, but if you are casting the metal anyway then why bother making coins rather than jewelry? (Plus I am not sure when platinum was discovered or at least used used, but I beliee it wassomewhat later in period than my game.)

The Auld Grump

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Nope, the coins may exist in treasure, but are labeled 'Antique coins - Value' followed by thier worth in GP.

Copper and silver see frequent use, as well as gold.

The hardness of platinum precludes the creation of platinum coins. (Platinum is harder than the steel used for the coin press - there is a reason why coins are mage from soft metals.) Cast platinum coins might be possible, but if you are casting the metal anyway then why bother making coins rather than jewelry? (Plus I am not sure when platinum was discovered or at least used used, but I beliee it wassomewhat later in period than my game.)

The Auld Grump

Going with a purely European time frame perspective, platinum wasn't "known" until the 1800's IIRC (when it was discovered). However, platinum has been present since much earlier times in the Americas (esp. South America); in fact, the conquistadors encountered the metal, dubbing it platina (IIRC, meaning "small silver" in Spanish, deeming it as a lesser/lower quality form of silver) while in the Americas.

So, technically, platinum has been around for quite some time. It's just a matter where the metal can be found (on Earth) that made it such a "late" discovery--IIRC, platinum's mainly found in South America, Canada, and Siberia (as well as in a few other locales).