History Main / CheapGoldCoins

* Inverted in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/1blxss6/in_dnd_ive_never_seen_anything_less_than_a_gold/ this comic]] by Reddit user [=u/OnePKFrog=]. The barmaid asks for [[GoldSilverCopperStandard "five copper"]], and when the adventurer pulls a gold coin, claiming he doesn't have any gold or silver, the shocked barmaid tells him she can't even make change with that.

* Inverted in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/1blxss6/in_dnd_ive_never_seen_anything_less_than_a_gold/ this comic]] by Reddit user [=u/OnePKFrog=]. The barmaid asks for payment in [[GoldSilverCopperStandard "five copper"]], and when the adventurer pulls a gold coin, the shocked barmaid tells him she can't even make change with that.

** A simple dagger costs two gold pieces. According to the Player's Handbook v.3.5 gold pieces are a third of an ounce. Even if gold is more common in that setting, that amount should still be worth a lot more than just a simple dagger.

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** In 1st Edition the widespread use of gold coins was explained in the Dungeon Master's Guide as being a result of "gold rush" economics. Adventurers were constantly going out and raiding lost tombs and monster hoards, bringing back the gold they found and spending it. This led to serious inflation and a significant decrease in the value of gold. Which is handled fairly realistically in [[http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2005-09-07 this]] ''{{ComicStrip/Nodwick}}'' comic.

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[[folder:Real Life ]]

Subtrope of FictionalCurrency and GoldSilverCopperStandard. Contrast RidiculousFutureInflation and RareMoney. Compare TreasureIsBiggerInFiction and WorthlessYellowRocks.

* Also averted in ''Literature/{{Gate}}'', as the amount of money initially requested by Sugawara from TheEmpire as a reparation, 500 million suwani, turns up to be more gold than probably ''exists'' in their world. For the record, suwani is a ''really large'' gold coin weighing ~60 grams, with a couple of them often representing an average man's whole life savings. Otherwise the story pays little attention to the money, but the cost of a meal and a couple of beers paid by Yao in an Alnus tavern seems to be three or four copper pieces, which is about right for the High Medieval times.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', golden Galleons are the highest denomination of currency, but still not worth that much -- Harry pays ten Galleons for the Ominoculars in ''Goblet of Fire'', for example. J.K. Rowling has said in an interview that one Galleon is worth roughly £5.

* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout 2}}'' used gold coins (later established as NCR dollars) as the main currency in the Core Region. A simple pre-war police tonfa costs 30 of these coins. A ''sharpened wooden pole'' is worth 5!

* With [[UsefulNotes/SecondBoerWar the conquest of the Boer republics]] and their valuable mines in 1902, gold captured from the Dutch and Afrikaans-operated mines flooded the British markets and the Gold Sovereign (a 1-pound coin) became an everyday item, possibly making Edwardian Britain one of the few RealLife examples of this trope. On the other hand, the proliferation of cheap gold meant that the value of the pound fell dramatically, causing prices to inflate by a third and the value of wages to fall by 13%. Nowadays, the Sovereign is a prized bullion coin, valued both by collectors and investors for its high metal purity as well as its interesting history, and it's not uncommon to see Edwardian Sovereigns in good condition sell for hundreds to even thousands of pounds.

** Done more sensibly in ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas Fallout: New Vegas]]'', since only Caesars Legion issues gold coins, and they're worth [[ShownTheirWork 25 of their silver coins]]. It's still only equivalent to [[WeirdCurrency 100 caps]] though.[[note]]Given that $100 of Pre-War Money is worth 10 caps, this is about equal to $1000 dollars, so it's roughly equivalent to today's gold prices, assuming the Aureus weighs 1 ounce. And assuming that pre-war dollars were worth as much as real-world 21st century dollars despite the economic troubles they had leading up to the war and that they retained that value AfterTheEnd.[[/note]] The NCR used to mint gold coins but during the NCR-Brotherhood war, the Brotherhood of Steel blew up the NCR gold deposits and their economic situation has only been going worse and worse as $100 NCR dollars give a measly 40 bottle caps, something citizens and military personnel in New Vegas bemoan.
* Averted and arguably inverted in ''Videogame/WurmOnline''. Gold coins are ''extremely'' rare, and few players will ever actually see one even if they have a gold deposit inside their territory; even silver coins aren't that common, understandably so given that the exchange rate is fixed at one silver coin to 1€, or about US$1.35.

* With the conquest of the Boer republics and their valuable mines in 1902, gold captured from the Dutch and Afrikaans-operated mines flooded the British markets and the Gold Sovereign (a 1-pound coin) became an everyday item, possibly making Edwardian Britain one of the few RealLife examples of this trope. On the other hand, the proliferation of cheap gold meant that the value of the pound fell dramatically, causing prices to inflate by a third and the value of wages to fall by 13%. Nowadays, the Sovereign is a prized bullion coin, valued both by collectors and investors for its high metal purity as well as its interesting history, and it's not uncommon to see Edwardian Sovereigns in good condition sell for hundreds to even thousands of pounds.

* With the conquest of the Boer republics and their valuable mines in 1902, gold captured from the Dutch and Afrikaans-operated mines flooded the British markets and the Gold Sovereign (a 1-pound coin) became an everyday item, possibly making Edwardian Britain one of the few RealLife examples of this trope. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome On the other hand,]] the proliferation of cheap gold meant that the value of the pound fell dramatically, causing prices to inflate by a third and the value of wages to fall by 13%. Nowadays, the Sovereign is a prized bullion coin, valued both by collectors and investors for its high metal purity as well as its interesting history, and it's not uncommon to see Edwardian Sovereigns in good condition sell for hundreds to even thousands of pounds.

** As a fun aside, the Sovereign, plus the Half Sovereign, rare Double Sovereign and ''even rarer'' Quintuple Sovereign, survived the decimalisation of the pound during the 1970's, and continue to be legal tender today, though for quite obvious reasons, you're not really meant to spend them for their face value - £1, £0.50 £2 and £5, respectively.

** As a fun aside, the Sovereign, plus the Half Sovereign and Double Sovereign, survived the decimalisation of the pound during the 1970's, and continue to be legal tender today, though for quite obvious reasons, you're not really meant to spend them for their face value - £1, £0.50 and £2, respectively.

Indeed, even today in First World countries, one Troy ounce of gold is worth about a week's pay for many people that we would consider Middle Class. (The price of gold exceeds one thousand US dollars per Troy ounce as of this writing.) It's been noted that for most of civilized history (down to today), a one-ounce gold coin would pay for a nice gentleman's suit of clothes.

* Almost averted in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', where one gold coin equals 100 silver coins or 10,000 copper coins, with two copper coins being enough for an ordinary flagon of ale.

* Justified in ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'': all gold in the world comes from monsters dying, which then comes from an endless supply created from basically nothing as far as we know, so gold is far more common in the world because it is far more abundant or at least easily available.

* {{Downplayed}} in ''LightNovel/ThatTimeIGotReincarnatedAsASlime'': Rimuru takes the time to go over the various forms of currency used in the world (as well as noting trading in goods is still often used as payment in poorer areas and often used as collateral in richer nations) and notes gold coins are incredibly valuable (worth the equivalent of $1000 each), with the common pay being in silver for more day-to-day interactions. It's downplayed in that as the leader of Tempest, a rapidly rising economic and technological powerhouse, he's doing a ''lot'' more business in terms of gold with merchants and other nations due to the sheer financial power he has at his disposal and is capable of bringing to the table.

** As a fun aside, the sovereign, plus the half and double sovereigns, survived the decimalisation of the pound during the 1970's, and continue to be legal tender today, though for quite obvious reasons, you're not really meant to spend them for their face value - £1, £2 and £0.50, respectively.

* With the conquest of the Boer republics and their valuable mines in 1902, gold captured from the Dutch and Afrikaans-operated mines flooded the British markets and the Gold Sovereign (a 1-pound coin) became an everyday item, possibly making Edwardian Britain one of the few RealLife examples of this trope. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome On the other hand,]] the proliferation of cheap gold meant that the value of the pound fell dramatically, causing prices to inflate by a third and the value of wages to fall by 13%. Nowadays, the Sovereign is a prized bullion coin, valued both by collectors and investors, and it's not uncommon to see Edwardian Sovereigns in good condition sell for hundreds to even thousands of pounds.

In RealLife gold coins were like hundred-dollar bills; only used for very large transactions[[note]]except, perhaps, for the gold one-dollar coins minted in the middle of the 19th century, which were about the size of a Half Dime, which could be equivalent to anything from 20 to 7,000 modern dollars [[http://web.archive.org/web/20150906195344/https://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/result.php?year_source=1849&amount=1&year_result=2014 depending on your estimate]][[/note]], and most people were unlikely to see very many in their lifetimes unless they happened to work at places where such large transactions were commonplace. But, in many fantasy settings, the most basic equipment costs dozens or even hundreds of gold pieces, often to the point that characters can be seen walking around with bags stuffed full of the stuff!

This is most likely to give players some point of familiarity by making the cost similar to what it would be in dollars, or yen in Japanese games (which might be why they tend to be worse with it, as the yen has been consistently worth about $0.01 for quite some time). In video games, another reason for it is simplifying things - having to deal with multiple denominations would be annoying, so everything is priced in gold.

* Averted in ''LightNovel/SpiceAndWolf'', where in one episode Lawrence has to exchange his gold coins for silver in order to buy clothing (the vendors wouldn't have change). Also one of the early plot arcs involves speculation on the silver content of one nation's coins.

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The most common gold coins of the era were worth around six shillings (a bit under a third of a pound) or more, so for most people, one (generic) gold coin would represent at least a few weeks' earnings, if not a few months'. You would not use gold to do your grocery shopping. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire until the mid-13th century gold coinage wasn't even minted in Western Europe-- the primary coin used in daily life was the silver penny,[[note]]which was for the longest time the ''only'' coin other than its denominations the half-penny and farthing[[/note]] which had a purchasing value of about 15 USD as of 2020.[[note]]From "Daily Life in the Middle Ages", by Paul B Newman, written in 2001, giving a value of 10 USD[[/note]]

Subtrope of FictionalCurrency and GoldSilverCopperStandard. Contrast RidiculousFutureInflation. Compare TreasureIsBiggerInFiction and WorthlessYellowRocks.