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The Spare Change of Middle-Earth
Aug. 21st, 2002 12:35 pmThank God I’ve had Canon Virus before. I'm immune now. ::pops open umbrella just in case::
Went to the Prancing Pony with Beorn last night for drinks (me – cappuccino, him – large keg of Glorfindale Brown). Fun as always, though not the stuff of which interesting journal entries are made. Came home with a pocket full of change, since the pinball machine only accepts Sacajawea dollars, and thought it might be worth documenting. Yes, I'm bored, shut up. Notes after the picture.
1 - Mordor Bank Note. Formally named the ‘Oculon,’ but called a ‘twat’ by users for reasons which should be glaringly obvious. Very rare, due to their tendency to spontaneously combust, and to the fact that since until the end of the Third Age, the Mordor economy was based on absolute slavery, nobody had any money. Value now fluctuates wildly, ranging from worthless to doodly-squat, depending on how the pizza market is doing.
2, 3, 4, 5 – Various coins from the Misty Mountains/Mirkwood/Rivendell area. It’s not uncommon for the village smith to make coins for the locals, and the value is by weight and material, not denomination. (Beorn makes his own, since he's into the macho hammering thing.) Note the half-Beorning on the far right – if you need to make change for a coin, you cut it into portions. (Or in Beorn's case, bite it.) Fragments such as this are perfectly valid spending money, and are also collected and re-formed into new coins.
6 – Rohan 1-Mark piece. Rather attractive unknown white metal.
7, 8 – Uruk-Hai army scrip, Dwarven coin. Note that both are pierced so that they may be strung on chains or cords for transport, security, and decoration. Members of the Uruk-Hai tended to reshape their pay into pierce-able form, being more or less unable to grasp the concept of offering legal tender for goods and services rather than making their transactions with the aid of a large axe. It is uncommon to find one like this in its original condition, rather than in the form of a nose ring or Prince Albert. Dwarven coins are uniformly shaped, but made of every possible precious metal, often with jewels set into them. A Dwarf who cannot immediately calculate the exact value of a coin from its composition and stone(s) is considered by other Dwarves to suffer from mild mental retardation. Attempting to circulate coins made from impure metal or alloys is a capital crime in the Dwarflands.
9 – Lothlorien ‘Banknote.’ Embossed doeskin with pigment, seal, lapis beads, pretty dangly things, etc. You don’t see a lot of Elvish money at the Prancing Pony,* or indeed anywhere. For one thing, the immortal Elves have evolved a complex system of barter, both with the other Free Peoples and in their own society. Another factor is that Elvish money is, like Elvish everything else, handmade by painstaking artists and craftsElves, so that one note can take years to complete and will be absolutely unique. Naturally it’s considered an art form, one which recipients all over Arda are more likely to frame than spend. And Elves tend to find the notion of actually using money a bit tacky.
*At those prices, I'm not surprised.
Went to the Prancing Pony with Beorn last night for drinks (me – cappuccino, him – large keg of Glorfindale Brown). Fun as always, though not the stuff of which interesting journal entries are made. Came home with a pocket full of change, since the pinball machine only accepts Sacajawea dollars, and thought it might be worth documenting. Yes, I'm bored, shut up. Notes after the picture.
1 - Mordor Bank Note. Formally named the ‘Oculon,’ but called a ‘twat’ by users for reasons which should be glaringly obvious. Very rare, due to their tendency to spontaneously combust, and to the fact that since until the end of the Third Age, the Mordor economy was based on absolute slavery, nobody had any money. Value now fluctuates wildly, ranging from worthless to doodly-squat, depending on how the pizza market is doing.
2, 3, 4, 5 – Various coins from the Misty Mountains/Mirkwood/Rivendell area. It’s not uncommon for the village smith to make coins for the locals, and the value is by weight and material, not denomination. (Beorn makes his own, since he's into the macho hammering thing.) Note the half-Beorning on the far right – if you need to make change for a coin, you cut it into portions. (Or in Beorn's case, bite it.) Fragments such as this are perfectly valid spending money, and are also collected and re-formed into new coins.
6 – Rohan 1-Mark piece. Rather attractive unknown white metal.
7, 8 – Uruk-Hai army scrip, Dwarven coin. Note that both are pierced so that they may be strung on chains or cords for transport, security, and decoration. Members of the Uruk-Hai tended to reshape their pay into pierce-able form, being more or less unable to grasp the concept of offering legal tender for goods and services rather than making their transactions with the aid of a large axe. It is uncommon to find one like this in its original condition, rather than in the form of a nose ring or Prince Albert. Dwarven coins are uniformly shaped, but made of every possible precious metal, often with jewels set into them. A Dwarf who cannot immediately calculate the exact value of a coin from its composition and stone(s) is considered by other Dwarves to suffer from mild mental retardation. Attempting to circulate coins made from impure metal or alloys is a capital crime in the Dwarflands.
9 – Lothlorien ‘Banknote.’ Embossed doeskin with pigment, seal, lapis beads, pretty dangly things, etc. You don’t see a lot of Elvish money at the Prancing Pony,* or indeed anywhere. For one thing, the immortal Elves have evolved a complex system of barter, both with the other Free Peoples and in their own society. Another factor is that Elvish money is, like Elvish everything else, handmade by painstaking artists and craftsElves, so that one note can take years to complete and will be absolutely unique. Naturally it’s considered an art form, one which recipients all over Arda are more likely to frame than spend. And Elves tend to find the notion of actually using money a bit tacky.
*At those prices, I'm not surprised.
