Coin Weight

[Koopa]

Couldn't find a standard coin weight in the book, so reverted back to some of my old house rules... 1 coin = 1 ounce. so 16 coins / lb.

Just curious if anyone has seen this in the book and could direct me to a page reference.

Also curious if its not in the book, what is everyone using?

 

[Spectator]

That default rule is terrible.
Its an old holdover from AD&D.
EDIT: strike that, DnD actually said 10 coins weigh 1 lb. ABSURD
Coins have very rarely ever weighed that much, historically.
Just think about how much 100 coppers will buy you, yet you have 10lbs of copper? Utilizing the DnD method.
Even 160 coppers still aint crap, though.
An ounce is roughly 27 grams, most large coins rarely weigh more than five -seven grams, smaller (normal coins weigh usually 2-4 grams.
Find a metric scale and put a penny on it or a centime or a euro-penny whatever.
A great and well researched article can be found in this PDF, which coincidently is all about the insanity of coins weighing an ounce/ per coin.
See http://www.dragonsfoot.org/php4/archive.php?sectioninit=FT&fileid=261

the article is within the e-magazine.

EDIT: Further note the conversion ratio of silver pennies to gold lunas would be astronomical were historical exchange rates used.

 

[Koopa]

Thank you for the reply.

In my mind when talking about silver coins I guess I do not imagine coins the size of pennies or nickels in this world. I imagine more silver dollar sized coins (as they are often cut into 1/4's as stated in the book). The standard silver dollar weighs 1oz, this is where I got my conversion of 16 coins/ lb from. I'll give that magazine a read though.

http://www.muenzauktion.com/coininvest/item.php5?id=66&lang=en&curr=USD&ref=frooglus

 

[Spectator]

Interesting coin link, you relied on.
You were looking at the investment grade silver dollar which weigh 1 ounce/ 27 grams.
the stadard coin grade "dollar coin" oir largest coin in circulation is this "Susan B Anthony dollad"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony_dollar

note it weighs a whopping 8 grams. basically 1/3 the weight and 1/20 th the value.

 

[Demetrio]

The Roman denarius (a coin containing some silver, usually about 3g) weighed about 3.5g on average.
The sestertius (a bronze coin of lesser value) tended to be much heavier, often weighing in excess of ten grams.

Byzantine coins of about 500 A.D. (perhaps a better fit for the Hyborian Age) had the following:

Bronze c. 9g. - 420 of these equalled a silver coin
Silver c. 8g and c. 16g
Gold just under 4.5g (and virtually pure gold).

So a bag of coins weighing a kilo (roughly 2lbs for all you poor benighted colonials...) would contain over 200 gold coins, but only half as many (approximately) of bronze or silver.

 

[Supplement Four]

Couldn't find a standard coin weight in the book, so reverted back to some of my old house rules... 1 coin = 1 ounce. so 16 coins / lb.

AD&D 2E sets coin weight at 50 per 1 pound (500 coins = 10 pounds).

If that helps.

 

[Demetrio]

AD&D 2E sets coin weight at 50 per 1 pound (500 coins = 10 pounds).

If that helps.

Which fits well with the Byzantine weights for silver. That dragonsfoot article is great but it does fall into the trap of assuming gold coins will be heavier than silver and copper/bronze ones, which tended not to be the case. Not that it's a big deal really.

 

[Spectator]

#1 really cool were getting this level of input for a "dead game."
#2 I kinda stick to real life and basically have 100 coins equal a pound (weight). Based on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_(United_States_coin) which weighs a slight bit more than 5 grams a piece.
#3 I like to make gold a little more exciting than the standard DnD hoard of 10,000 GP so I have made gold more rare and more expensive and have given a gold piece 50 times the value of a silver piece, much like the article in the Dragonsfoot E-zine.

But heck this is your game so act like you are at Burger King and have it your way!

I just enjoy a SMALL fortune of Gold, as opposed to Sacks and Sacks of a moderate fortune.

 

[Clovenhoof]

I think the official info in Conan is that there are 100 coins to a pound. Which is quite reasonable, roughly 5g per coin.

In my game I used to use the Carolingian coin system with 240 pennies to a pound of silver. (This is the system that was in use in the UK until the 1960s or so.) But after a lot of confusion I eventually gave this up and reverted to the 100-to-a-pound rule.

 

[Malcadon]

#1 really cool were getting this level of input for a "dead game."

Like REH, I believe in reincarnation. LOL

Actually, coin wight/size crops up quite a bit on old-school D&D forums. The e-zine was the result of much posting. I remember one guy even taped pairs of thick-ass Australasian half-dollars to illustrate the "feel" of AD&D copper pieces to his players. I wish I can find that post, because he posted some neat pictures - he made every point to show how bid the stacks look.

But heck this is your game so act like you are at Burger King and have it your way!

Heck, the last guy to "have it your way" at Burger King nearly got charged with rape! (I should really stop being so literal :wink

 

[Emily10]

Coins have collected since ancient times. It is used by millions of people for payment or trade, and has striked using very precious metals like gold and silver. Now use of gold and silver coins is not tied down to only trading and collecting. It is also used as financial stabilizers by many investors. How can coins stabilize one's finance. Dollar value has decreased to the point where other countries would not hold on to it for trade. Inflation causes prices to rise up and decreases number of items that can be bought with small amount of money. Silver and gold coins have going the opposite way. They are maintaining their high value over weight.


Greece Euro Coins

 

[R Arceneaux]

In reference to the original post:

If one coin equals 1 Oz and 100 gold coils equal 100 Ozs.

This would be a problem if there were only one metal used in coins.

BUT D D got around the weight problem by the use of other metals and gem stones having a higher value than the more common gold. Thus say 100 gold pieces would equal a single small gem stone of much less weight but of equal value. OR 1000 gold pieces equal one platinum coin thus saving the weight of 999 gold pieces.

OF COURSE in using other valuables in place of gold one has to also think about the possibility of the inability to cash or even use the coin due to a lack of 'change'.

 

[Boneguard]

I usually don't bother with coin weight, since players rarely have huge amount of it on them (less then 50). And when they do, it's in chest carried by mule/donkey and again rarely in amount that affect movement.

 

[R Arceneaux]

JUST CURIOUS....

Lets say the party runs into a big pile of coins and does not have a donkey or whatever to carry them?

Just curious....

 

[Boneguard]

Considering we are mule happy that rarely occure. But, if it shows up, then I usually do the 50 to a pound as per 2nd and 3rd edition.

If I feel adventurous I seek out the weight of Roman, Greek or Byzantine coins instead.

 

[Phobos]

Less of 50 coins? I must empoverish my players...

 

[Boneguard]

Well conan was always dirt poor and most of his wargear were war loot or gear from him employer so...