# Common currency for Middle Earth



## Kuduk (Jan 30, 2002)

Okay, here's a kind of goofy what if sort of question which is kind of related to current events while still being sort of related to Middle Earth....

For a reunited kingdom of Arnor and Gondor, what should the name of the currency be?

I have two candidates in mind and both for fairly obvious reasons....

The Elendil
The Elessar

Any other ideas? Also, what do you think should be on the coins and on any hypothetical notes (disregarding for the moment the question whether paper money would have been consistent to Middle Earth, though that might result in some interesting debates....)


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## Beleg Strongbow (Jan 31, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Kuduk _
> *Okay, here's a kind of goofy what if sort of question which is kind of related to current events while still being sort of related to Middle Earth....
> 
> For a reunited kingdom of Arnor and Gondor, what should the name of the currency be?
> ...






I think those names are just a little too used. I was sure everyone had a common currency. Coins? Didn't Frodo seem disapointed when he thought he might have 2 pay 4 strider and he was going 2 pay in gold coins.


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## Kuduk (Jan 31, 2002)

> I think those names are just a little too used.


 Well, I certainly didn't suggest them because I thought they would be too obscure... 

Several years ago when a name for the Euro was being debated, one of the suggestions which I thought was pretty creative was the 'Monet.' And unlike the EU bureaucrats, we need not concern ourselves too much with local political sensitivities (particularly since this is all hypothetical). So any suggestions then?


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## Lantarion (Feb 1, 2002)

"Five Monet's". LOL. Absolutely ludicrous. 

I suppose something in Quenya ould be appropriate, as people still used it as a language of lore and such. I would suggest something like _Laurëlassi_, 'golden leaves'; or _Tincolassi_, 'metal leaves'; or better yet, _Taróma_, 'the voice of the King'. But I dunno.
And I'm sure that at least on one side it would have the symbol of the house of Elendil, the White Tree and Seven Stars; and around the edges there would be some kind of writing in Quenya, written with the Tengwar.


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## Grond (Feb 1, 2002)

I think turn about is fair play. Call them Sauron's bane or Silver pieces of Sauron.


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## Cian (Feb 1, 2002)

I dunno about the original question, but in Gondor there was a silver coin called _tharni,_ said to be the fourth part of the _castar_ ~ apparently Westron. 

In Elvish the _canath_ or fourth part of the _mirian_ ~ the only gloss I could get concerned _mirian_ ~ expert David Salo thought possibly "jewel" + a diminutive comparable to English -ling ~ but that was accompanied by a ?


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## Sangahyando (Sep 1, 2005)

My choice for a currency in Middle-earth would be _Pharaz_- gold in Adunaic (the native tongue of Numenor). The image on the coin would be Telperion on one side and Laurelin on the other?


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## HLGStrider (Sep 2, 2005)

http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?t=12109


I thought this was an interesting related thread. . .

Personally, I like simple things that either refer to the amount or the person who was minting them. In other words, a coin from Gondor would be called a Gondor if it was issued by the government or a Joe if a smith named Joe made it. 

There is a method to madness. 

I am not going to assume that there would be a common currency for all of Elendil's lands. They are too spread out. I think it more likely that there would be a mint in Arnor run by one group and in Gondor ran in another and probably whatever coinage used in Rohan, Dale, among the Dwarves, etc, would be common. 

When this is the case coins are given value not on what the governing body sets on them but for their purity and size. A coin could be one ounce of whatever precious metal (gold, silver) and would be worth that much. The stamp on the coin would identify the coiner who minted it, and if you trusted the name of that coiner, you trusted the value of the coin, that it had not been mixed with lesser metals to achieve that weight, etc. 

Therefore if there is a Hobbiton coin minted by the Brandybuck family mint it would be called a Brandybuck (probably how we Americans started using the word Buck for money is when these started migrating over here. . .), and you would accept its value based on whether or not you trusted Brandybuck's minting methods.


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## Hammersmith (Sep 3, 2005)

HLGStrider said:


> Therefore if there is a Hobbiton coin minted by the Brandybuck family mint it would be called a Brandybuck (probably how we Americans started using the word Buck for money is when these started migrating over here. . .)


The Brandybucks minted the dollar???


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## Aglarband (Sep 3, 2005)

I think Ring's would be great coins. Aw man, that new sheath i want to buy costs 1 golden ring!


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## OldTomBombadil (Sep 10, 2005)

Old Tom never had any money so he wouldn't know much about such things... 



> Tom stumped along the road, as the light was failing.
> Rushey lamps gleamed ahead. He heard a voice him hailing.
> 'Whoa there!' Ponies stopped, wheels halted sliding.
> Tom went plodding past, never looked beside him. 'Ho there! beggarman tramping in the Marish!
> ...


...but I'll offer my opinion nonetheless.  

Seems to me a coin ought to be named, at least colloquially, by what's pictured on it. For instance, in Canada they have the "loonie". 

So what might be depicted on the coin of Gondor? Well, the white tree seemed to be their most common symbol. The seven stars and the winged crown were also symbols of the realm. So the names the common folks might use would be "treeie", "starry", and "crownie".


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## Firawyn (Oct 3, 2005)

Humm...I never thought about it. I just assumed everything was trade, beg, borrow, steal, etc. lol

"You owe me four Rings of Power!"


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## Sangahyando (Oct 6, 2005)

Considering what HLGStrider said, the common munitary name would be something like the celeb, silver but be worth more or less in separate countries. Obviously, Dwarven monies would be worth more as they may be forged from partial mithril and partial gold, making an altogether rare coin.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Oct 6, 2005)

KudukFor a reunited kingdom of [autolink said:


> Arnor[/autolink] and Gondor, what should the name of the currency be?[/QUOTE
> 
> Well, I go with the frodo as the basic monetary unit, equivalent to a dollar. Then you could have the following equivalent coinage: 100 pippin to the frodo; 20 meriadoc to the frodo; 10 samwise to the frodo; 4 gimli to the frodo; 2 cotton to the frodo.
> 
> ...


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