Honestly, it is still alot, definitely a lot. but we need to compare it with the cost of living back then. but it is hard to put a $ value on cost of living for a middle ages peasant. so I invite anyone to continue this thread.
Most people didn’t see any gold coin in their entire life. Gold was something for nobility and royalty. Silver and copper were used. And many places worked keeping tabs, usually just chalk marks on a slate, and do a regular reckoning or settlement and “clean the slate”.
Very roughly 1 gold is 10 silver in history. So that would just be a small bag of 30 something coins. It’s not that big in size, but it’s still about a kilogram (2 pound) so a bit heavy to keep in your pocket.
You guys are lugging around some hefty coins. Granted, I don’t think there’s any sort of back of napkins maths that can be done to make the DnD economy make sense, but it’s a fun exercise anyhow.
Showing my work here, because I’m bad at math so someone should check me.
1lb = 453.59 grams
1 oz = 28.35 grams
1 troy oz = 31.1 grams
1 coin ≈ 9.26 grams (per the 2014 PHB: “A standard coin weighs about 1/3 of an ounce, so 50 coins weighs a pound.” Those figures return a coin weight between 9.45 and 9.07 grams, which I averaged out to 9.26 grams)
Cost of pure gold per troy ounce IN JUNE 2014 (roughly corresponding to when 5e was released) ≈$1300. Therefore cost of pure gold per gram ≈ $41.80.
One pure gold coin then ≈ $387.07.
Of course, assuming coins in circulation are gold bullion is a big stretch. As part of The Great Debasement (which sounds like a helluva a party until you learn it’s about monetary policy), King Henry VIII reduced the standard fineness of English currency from 23 karat (95.83% pure) to 22 karat (91.667% pure). This standard was further reduced when the United States Mint struck their gold dollar coin in 1849, when they dropped the fineness to 21.6 karat (90% pure).
Tangent regarding the size of gold coins mostly unrelated to DnD economics, but maybe interesting if you’ve already read this much. The Type 1 American Gold Dollar was only 12.7 mm in diameter, or half an inch. That’s TINY, and one of the chief reasons people opposed the striking of a gold dollar at the time. For folks familiar with American currency, the dime is 17.91 mm in diameter, so you’d be hunting for a coin 2/3 the size of what is already an inconveniently small coin (imo). I didn’t find a direct causal link cited between these points, but I assume part of the reason for lowering the fineness from 22 karat was to eke out a slightly bigger coin for the same monetary value. Here is a visual aid showing how tiny the Gold Dollar was in comparison:
Which brings us, finally, to DnD coinage. Let’s assume 90% purity, with the remainder having a negligible monetary value. Decimating the value of my hypothetical pure gold coin, we arrive at a value of 1 GP ≈ $348.36.
Given one gold coin is what a skilled (but not exceptional) craftsman could expect to earn from a day’s work, that seems relatively in line with expectations.
This took forever to write on my phone, so someone may have already hit these points, but it kept me amused during a slow day at work. Edit quickly to add that inflation from 2014 -> 2026 increases all values by roughly 1/3. In today’s dollars then, 1 GP is about $463. Ish.
$150 per gram of gold. 30 grams per coin. 3 coins. $13,500. That’s some really premium beer.
let’s be more specific, the meme sort of implies medieval economy, rather than a DnD economy.
time for some googling…
https://seekingalpha.com/article/59244-value-of-gold-over-the-ages
Lets go 1400s, so about 3000Usd/troy ounce ounce
One troy ounce is about 31 grams (about a coin).
So that’s about 9000$
Honestly, it is still alot, definitely a lot. but we need to compare it with the cost of living back then. but it is hard to put a $ value on cost of living for a middle ages peasant. so I invite anyone to continue this thread.
Most people didn’t see any gold coin in their entire life. Gold was something for nobility and royalty. Silver and copper were used. And many places worked keeping tabs, usually just chalk marks on a slate, and do a regular reckoning or settlement and “clean the slate”.
that’s true,
wonder if that tavernkeeper can go to the nearest Lord and ask to change the gold coins for equal value silver/copper coins.
Also. no banks, so travelling with 9000$ in cash would be extremely dangerous…
would 9000$ in silver coins something that’s easy to hide?
Very roughly 1 gold is 10 silver in history. So that would just be a small bag of 30 something coins. It’s not that big in size, but it’s still about a kilogram (2 pound) so a bit heavy to keep in your pocket.
Too much to make it easy to hide.
You guys are lugging around some hefty coins. Granted, I don’t think there’s any sort of back of napkins maths that can be done to make the DnD economy make sense, but it’s a fun exercise anyhow.
Showing my work here, because I’m bad at math so someone should check me.
1lb = 453.59 grams
1 oz = 28.35 grams
1 troy oz = 31.1 grams
1 coin ≈ 9.26 grams (per the 2014 PHB: “A standard coin weighs about 1/3 of an ounce, so 50 coins weighs a pound.” Those figures return a coin weight between 9.45 and 9.07 grams, which I averaged out to 9.26 grams)
Cost of pure gold per troy ounce IN JUNE 2014 (roughly corresponding to when 5e was released) ≈$1300. Therefore cost of pure gold per gram ≈ $41.80.
One pure gold coin then ≈ $387.07.
Of course, assuming coins in circulation are gold bullion is a big stretch. As part of The Great Debasement (which sounds like a helluva a party until you learn it’s about monetary policy), King Henry VIII reduced the standard fineness of English currency from 23 karat (95.83% pure) to 22 karat (91.667% pure). This standard was further reduced when the United States Mint struck their gold dollar coin in 1849, when they dropped the fineness to 21.6 karat (90% pure).
Tangent regarding the size of gold coins mostly unrelated to DnD economics, but maybe interesting if you’ve already read this much. The Type 1 American Gold Dollar was only 12.7 mm in diameter, or half an inch. That’s TINY, and one of the chief reasons people opposed the striking of a gold dollar at the time. For folks familiar with American currency, the dime is 17.91 mm in diameter, so you’d be hunting for a coin 2/3 the size of what is already an inconveniently small coin (imo). I didn’t find a direct causal link cited between these points, but I assume part of the reason for lowering the fineness from 22 karat was to eke out a slightly bigger coin for the same monetary value. Here is a visual aid showing how tiny the Gold Dollar was in comparison:
Which brings us, finally, to DnD coinage. Let’s assume 90% purity, with the remainder having a negligible monetary value. Decimating the value of my hypothetical pure gold coin, we arrive at a value of 1 GP ≈ $348.36.
Given one gold coin is what a skilled (but not exceptional) craftsman could expect to earn from a day’s work, that seems relatively in line with expectations.
This took forever to write on my phone, so someone may have already hit these points, but it kept me amused during a slow day at work. Edit quickly to add that inflation from 2014 -> 2026 increases all values by roughly 1/3. In today’s dollars then, 1 GP is about $463. Ish.