From: Ben Buckner <tarchon@imap2.asu.edu>
Subject: Re: COINS
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 14:25:17 -0500

Matko Barisic wrote:
> 
> bob blanchard wrote in message <91Gk5.461$Hu4.178460@news.uswest.net>...
> >
> >
> >3rd ED coins are 1/3 of a ounce (50 to the pound).
> >Coins are the exact size if the ilistation in page 146,
> >
> > page 96
> >
> >
> This might or might not be a really long-running extension of a thread based
> on a question I once asked about the physical properties and dimensions of
> coins to be used in medieval-like D&D campaigns, and if it is, I want to
> appologise to people for the rudness of never again having looked at the
> thread - I am notorious for really only getting acquainted with the way my
> newsreader programmes work so the whole thing is still a mess in which I can
> seldom find what I am looking for.
> If it's not, I'd like to ask people to give me their ideas about what coins
> they use in their campaigns (if they concern themselves with such indepth
> things), or what kind of coins were used historically?

I would (and sometimes do) make up coins specifically for each state.
You can tell a lot about a country by its coins.  Countries with 
particular religious orientations will show it on their coins, using 
symbols and devices peculiar to that religion.  Rulers or members of 
rulers' families will comonly appear.  If the ruler desires to establish 
his heir in the minds of the people, coins are a good way to do that.  
If crown-prince Apgar is on the Fritchland silver penny, it's pretty 
clear to everyone that he and not his usurping cousin Smedley is the 
legitimate heir to the throne. 
 
The Romans were especially adept at using coins for propaganda, so you 
can get a lot of ideas from their issues.  Constantine during his pagan 
days issued coins with his patron Sun God on the reverse.  After he 
sold out (:-)) to the Christians, the pagan gods went away.  Instead, 
we see for example depictions of the vision that converted him or 
scenes involving the chi-rho symbol.  A very popular coin of the
Constantinian dynasty shows a scene of a Roman soldier slaying
a barbarian (and the ethnic identity of the barbarian depended on 
where the coin was minted) with the legend "fel. temp. reparatio,"
"the good times are back."  Constantine's early rival Maxentius
used traditional Roman themes in his coins to appeal to his Old
Roman constituency against Constantine's Greek cosmopolitanism,
which threatened Rome's position as the heart of the empire.
Military emperors who depended strongly on the backing of the army 
were very prone to issue coins with military themes and slogans
like "Loyalty of the soliders", "Glory of the army," and 
reminders of the emperor's military prowess: "Conqueror of the 
Parthians" "The Victory of our Emperor" and so on.

For some other ideas, Medieval Islamic coins are unusual in that 
they hardly ever depict human figures (for religious reasons) and 
so are usually covered with inscriptions.  Medieval Chinese coins 
typically have a hole in the middle so you can string thing together.
Like the islamic coins, they almost never have portraits.  Chinese
bronze coins also were cast on "trees", so that as you needed change, 
you would pluck the coin off of the tree, or you could just use the
whole tree for large transactions.  Some Chinese "coins" were also
shaped like minature versions of everyday objects.  Norsemen would 
sometimes make change by just hacking off a bit of the coin (known 
as hacksilver).

Another thing about medieval coins that isn't appreciated so much
in RPGs, I think, is the rarity of gold coins in circulation.  
Gold hardly ever circulated.  People buried it under the floor and 
left it for years.  Silver was a little more common, but the vast 
bulk of circulating coinage in well established money systems would 
be bronze, brass, copper, and billon (copper-silver).  In places 
where the government was weak though (countries with a Chaotic 
bent perhaps), base coinage would tend to be seen as valueless and 
silver would tend to be the bulk of whatever currency was 
circulating.  Highly inflationary economies with a functional 
gonvernment would tend to have a glut of base coinage and debasement 
of silver coinage.

If you want to see real medieval coins, look on eBay under the Medieval 
Coin auctions.  Tons of free images, and you could even buy a few as 
props if you were really into it. :-)  If nothing else, they should give 
you an idea as to how different medieval-technology coins look from 
modern ones.

Ben Buckner