About: Gold-Silver-Copper Standard   Sponge Permalink

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A popular convention for fictional works stuck in Medieval Stasis or otherwise "primitive" settings is to have money handled by the exchange of precious metals. In almost all of these cases, there will be different denominations of coins differentiated entirely by what metal they're made out of. Usually this takes the form of the Olympic metals -- gold as the highest, silver second, and bronze last (though in coinage, copper is used instead of bronze more often than not). Sometimes more valuable metals are added above gold -- commonly platinum. Examples of Gold-Silver-Copper Standard include:

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  • Gold-Silver-Copper Standard
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  • A popular convention for fictional works stuck in Medieval Stasis or otherwise "primitive" settings is to have money handled by the exchange of precious metals. In almost all of these cases, there will be different denominations of coins differentiated entirely by what metal they're made out of. Usually this takes the form of the Olympic metals -- gold as the highest, silver second, and bronze last (though in coinage, copper is used instead of bronze more often than not). Sometimes more valuable metals are added above gold -- commonly platinum. Examples of Gold-Silver-Copper Standard include:
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  • A popular convention for fictional works stuck in Medieval Stasis or otherwise "primitive" settings is to have money handled by the exchange of precious metals. In almost all of these cases, there will be different denominations of coins differentiated entirely by what metal they're made out of. Usually this takes the form of the Olympic metals -- gold as the highest, silver second, and bronze last (though in coinage, copper is used instead of bronze more often than not). Sometimes more valuable metals are added above gold -- commonly platinum. There is some Truth in Television to this. Gold and silver coins were used for much of history, and even modern day currencies often invoke this by making their highest denomination coins golden, their middle ones silvery, and their lowest ones copper or bronze. Obviously, gold is more valuable than silver, which is itself more valuable than copper or bronze, but the value of individual coins depends as much on the weight and purity of the coin as it does on the value of the metal itself -- this is rarely reflected in fiction. Also rarely used is multiple denominations of coin made out of the same metal; a gold coin weighing twice as much as another gold coin would be worth twice the amount, but don't expect to see anything besides a generic "gold piece" ever mentioned. When using the Gold-Silver-Copper Standard, expect the coins to use a decimal system -- a coin will be worth ten times the denomination below it and one tenth the denomination above it, so that 1 gold = 10 silver = 100 copper (though occasionally units of 100 are used instead of 10). This has absolutely no basis in fact -- even if coins were minted to deliberately have this relationship, the prices of metals varies, and the "exchange rate" between different coins would fluctuate with time just as exchange rates between currencies do. This is generally an Acceptable Break From Reality, as very few people would be interested in doing "realistic" calculations of this nature, especially writers. The trope title is a reference to the gold standard, when paper money is set to be worth a fixed amount of gold, but the trope is otherwise unrelated to the concept. Expect to see the coins in a Gold Silver Copper Standard economy referred to as [metal] piece or [metal] coin; when they're given another name, it can overlap with Fictional Currency. Tasty Gold is related, for checking the purity of the gold coins. Often a Global Currency, though that's understandable, as the value in the coins comes from the precious metal itself. May be combined with Silver Has Mystic Powers to make gold more (and bronze/copper less) powerful than silver. For settings where transactions are done almost exclusively in gold, see Cheap Gold Coins. Examples of Gold-Silver-Copper Standard include:
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