Interresting thing about medieval coins I just read

[Krieg]

No, what is truly monumentally amusing is that you conveniently ignored where Aaron2 qualified his statement by adding "at least not anymore" in order to once again go off half cocked.

Smug condescension works much better when you aren't wrong.

Edit: Oops, looks like Aaron2 beat me to it.

 

[Aaron L]

Smug condescension works much better when you aren't wrong.

I love it.

 

[Dogbrain]

Arrrgh. Because I'm talking about -now-. My point was the D&D coinage systems is more similar to current coin systems than historical ones.

Wrong AGAIN! Let's just talk about "now".

How many "silver" (colored) coins does the current US system have? Three in current circulation (5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent) and two more in relatively recent circulation (50 cent, 1 dollar). So, once again, you're just monumentally wrong.

If you're going to try to explain yourself, make sure that you're not still wrong in the first place.

 

[Dogbrain]

No, what is truly monumentally amusing is that you conveniently ignored where Aaron2 qualified his statement by adding "at least not anymore" in order to once again go off half cocked.

Smug condescension works much better when you aren't wrong.

Edit: Oops, looks like Aaron2 beat me to it.

Nope, what's monumentally amusing is that YOU didn't bother to actually read what he wrote. He claimed that the D&D system is like the modern system because there was no step-down within "silver" coins--one had to go directly to copper.


If you are going to correct someone, make sure that you are not merely compounding error upon error.

 

[woodelf]

Im reading a book about Swedish history between 1200-1300 (really good book written by Dick Harrison; I recommend it for everyone here who can read Swedish) and read about how big the coins of the time were.

The coins from Gotland weighed 0,15 grams while the coins from Östergötland weighed 0,30 grams. If these sizes were true for the continent as well it means that the D&D coin weights are way off if you are interrested in authentic coin sizes.

Well, now i'm not sure whether i'm thinking of Medieval or earlier coins, but that more-or-less matches the ones i've actually seen. IIRC, a modern US dime is about 1 pennyweight and a penny is ~2 pennyweights. And a pennyweight, not surprisingly, derives it's name from the weight of a [silver] penny. Anyway, the small-denomination ancient coins i've seen are [U.S.] dime-sized or smaller. Ancient coins were positively tiny by modern standards--just to save everyone else the conversion work, the weights he's citing above are around 1-2 tenths of a pennyweight. It's only the large-denomination coins--gold boullion, spanish dubloons, probably actual silver pounds (never seen one) that are fairly large. Anyway, Google is failing me right now on producing some actual numbers for anything useful--closest i got is the gold coins minted in Australia these days range in weight from 1/20th of an ounce (Troy) to 1oz--or 15-300 per pound. Averaging that with my recollections of various Medieval coins i've actually seen, i suspect if we want more-authentic weights we could leave gold coins about the size they are now, and make silver coins more like a twentieth of an ounce or less--say, 300/lb, at the very biggest. 'Course, the denominational difference between gold and silver coins was often much greater [than 1:10] in Medieval times, too, so maybe we should make the gold coins smaller. But, yeah, D&D coins are, and always have been, huge--they're just slightly less huge now than in previous editions.

edit: actually, now that i think about it, are you sure you or your source didn't slip a digit? 1/20th of a pennyweight or a 7th of a gram is *really* tiny for coins--especially for something as dense as silver or gold, they'd be awful tiny to hold onto, and there wouldn't be much of anything there for stamping or otherwise marking. The coins i've actually seen in real life were probably on the order of 1 pennyweight, or maybe as little as 1/2 pennyweight--i couldn't pick them up, and i doubt i could accurately judge masses by feel at that size even if i could, so i'm guesstimating based on their relative size and density compared to a US dime.

 

[Aaron2]

How many "silver" (colored) coins does the current US system have? Three in current circulation (5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent) and two more in relatively recent circulation (50 cent, 1 dollar). So, once again, you're just monumentally wrong.

Are you actually asserting that I'm unfamiliar with dimes and quarters?


Aaron

 

[Dogbrain]

Are you actually asserting that I'm unfamiliar with dimes and quarters?

You must be. You claimed that the D&D system is like the modern US coin system (if one were to pretend that the "silver" coins were all actually silver). Your example was specifically that, in the D&D system, you could not have two denominations of silver coins. In the US system, we have the "Silver" dollar or the Suzie B vs. the dime. Here, I'll quote you:

In D&D there is no silver coin worth 1/10 of a silver piece. So even if your town is right next to a silver mine, you still have to bring in copper to make coins for small change. Its the same with US coins

While we only have one "copper coin" we have multiple "silver" coins. Thus, IT IS NOT THE SAME WITH US COINS. We DO have a "silver" coin worth 1/10 the value of another "silver coin".

 

[babomb]

While we only have one "copper coin" we have multiple "silver" coins. Thus, IT IS NOT THE SAME WITH US COINS. We DO have a "silver" coin worth 1/10 the value of another "silver coin".

If you go by actual physical composition, it's

penny : Copper plated zinc. 2.5% copper, 97.5% zinc. weight: 2.500 g

nickel : Cupro-nickel. 25% nickel, 75% copper. weight: 5.000 g

dime : Cupro-nickel. 8.33% nickel, 91.66% copper. weight: 2.268 g

quarter : Cupro-nickel. 8.33% nickel, 91.66% copper. weight: 5.670 g

half-dollar : Cupro-nickel. 8.33% nickel, 91.66% copper. weight: 11.340 g

Susan B. Anthony "silver" dollar : Cupro-Nickel. 12.5% nickel, 87.5% copper. weight: 8.1 g

Sacagawea "golden" dollar: Manganese-Brass. 88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, 2% nickel. weight: 8.1 g

(source: U. S. Mint)

So, we have one (mostly-)zinc denomination and 5 (mostly-)copper denominations.

However, before 1965, most dimes, quarters, and half-dollars were 90% silver, 10% copper. A small portion of Eisenhower dollars minted between 1971 and 1978 contained roughly 40% silver, as did a small portion of the bicentennial quarters and half-dollars minted in 1975 and 1976. The rest were the same makeup as the Susan B. Anthony dollars.

(Source: A Guide Book of United States Coins. 48th Edition 1995. By R. S. Yeoman. (C) 1994 Western Publishing Co.; Racine, WI.)

 

[Psionicist]

This is incorrect. The largest coins to have existed were made of a special kind of rare limestone, and were used in the Yap islands, in Micronesia. They can weigh up to around 225 kg, and be up to 3.7 metres in diameter. I believe this currency is still considered legal tender on Yap, but most people these days use paper money (often U.S. dollars, because of the tourist trade).

edit, added "diameter"

To quote the Guide:

In fact there are three freely convertible currencies in the
Galaxy, but none of them count. The Altairan Dollar has recently
collapsed, the Flaninian Pobble Bead is only exchangeable for
other Flaninian Pobble Beads, and the Triganic Pu has its own
very special problems. Its exchange rate of eight Ningis to one
Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a triangular rubber
coin six thousand eight hundred miles across each side, no one
has ever collected enough to own one Pu. Ningis are not
negotiable currency because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in
fiddling small change. From this basic premise it is very simple
to prove that the Galactibanks are also the product of a deranged
imagination.

 

[devoblue]

A dime is that small coin that has a value of "Dime" stamped on it. It can be exchanged for other dimes on a 1:1 ratio. You can exchange one for pennies also, but you have to guess as to how many they are worth.