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Message: <blockquote data-quote="morbiczer" data-source="post: 4003648" data-attributes="member: 15119">Real life coins were always alloys to some degree or another. The actual silver content of the coins varied over time. Usually it did decline, so newer coins had les silver content, and more copper (I think it was usually mixed with copper). This gradual decline in silver content was in times a major income source for kings and other rulers. Every year new coins would be minted, with usually slowly declining silver content, and people had to exchange their older coins for these newer coins in a 1:1 ratio. Since the old coins had more silver in them, ther was a profit for the king. And in mediaval times gold coins were very rare for a long time. The Romans (and people before them) minted gold coins, but this practice came to a halt after the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. There were just sliver coins + some byzantine and Arab gold coins. The mining of gold coins restarted in Europe just in the 13th century in Italy.Western European currency was clearly silver based. I'm pretty sure there were no copper coins either. Although sometimes silver coins had far more copper in them than silver. But D&D is not a scientific simulation of medieval times, so the old gp - sp - cp is okay I guess.</blockquote>