D&D 4E Questions about money & magic items in 4e...

[SidneyBroadshead]

I see the OP has not been around since 2011. I wonder if they still play 4e?

It's not really for the OP, but for anybody poking through the forums later, looking for an answer.
Money in D&D can be really confusing. I played using both D&D(1e) and AD&D(1e) materials and they had different currency systems. Early D&D(1e) didn't set the value of electrum pieces and got ounce and pennyweight weights confused for coins.

 

[Mannahnin]

It's not really for the OP, but for anybody poking through the forums later, looking for an answer.
Money in D&D can be really confusing. I played using both D&D(1e) and AD&D(1e) materials and they had different currency systems. Early D&D(1e) didn't set the value of electrum pieces and got ounce and pennyweight weights confused for coins.

Doesn't 1e define the value of an electrum piece as half that of a gold piece?

 

[SidneyBroadshead]

Doesn't 1e define the value of an electrum piece as half that of a gold piece?

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The early Original D&D Volume II: Monsters & Treasure [Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson, 1974] (pg.39)
5 cp = 1 sp
50 cp = 10 sp = 1 gp
electrum pieces (ep) and platinum pieces (pp) were optional.
electrum pieces were worth either: 2 gp = 1 ep or 2 ep = 1 gp
platinum pieces were worth: 5 gp = 1pp

Your quote is from Advanced D&D(1e) Players Handbook [Gary Gygax, 1978] (pg.35), which is:
100 cp = 10 sp = 1 ep
200 cp = 20 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp
1000 cp = 100 sp = 10 ep = 5 gp = 1pp

Basic D&D [John Eric Holmes, 1977] (pg.33) was a reformed version of Original D&D coinage with a fixed value for ep:
25 cp = 5 sp = 1 ep
50 cp = 10 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp
250 cp = 50 sp = 10 ep = 5 gp = 1pp

D&D 3x [2000 / 2003] was the first to adopt a decimal 10x coinage system (cp/sp/gp/pp):
100 cp = 10 sp = 2 ep = 1 gp
1000 cp = 100 sp = 20 ep = 10 gp = 1pp

So, depending on whether you used a Basic D&D adventure or an Advanced D&D adventure, the currency was different.
It's a lot like when Apple Computers made the Apple IIe alongside the Macintosh; two different competing products under the same brand marketed equally.