02-09-2014, 06:23 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Behind You
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Equipment: How much does a coin weight?
We're playing a Dungeon Fantasy-esque campaign (Not strict dungeon fantasy) and find the treasure tables too rewarding if you roll blind (You get rich FAST). Since loot tends to be smaller and less amazing in general, I've been working on a javascript that would cater more towards the low rewards system of treasure we follow for impromptu treasure generation.
That said, I'm working on the coin generation at the moment after I finished armors and such (Cheap quality happens most!), and I'm wondering what a coin weighs? |
02-09-2014, 06:33 PM | #2 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
Silver dollars/talers/crowns/pesos de ocho etc. weighed about an ounce, and not many coins were bigger. Silver pennies/pfennigs/deniers weighed about 1/20 of an ounce; there were smaller coins such as obols, but they weren't very practical.
Gold ducats and florins weighed about an eighth of an ounce. Golden guineas weighed a little less than a third of an ounce. Sovereigns weighed less than a guinea, and half-sovereigns more than a ducat.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 02-09-2014 at 07:00 PM. |
02-09-2014, 06:38 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Behind You
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
I'll go with 0.05 then.
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02-09-2014, 06:57 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
For reference, weights of US coins:
Penny: 2.5 grams, or 0.0055 lb. Nickel: 5.0 grams, or 0.011 lb. Dime: 2.268 grams, or 0.005 lb Quarter: 5.67 grams, or 0.0125 lb Half-Dollar: 11.34 grams, or 0.025 lb. Silver Dollar: 22.68 grams, or 0.05 lb. Dollar Coin (current): 8.1 grams, or 0.0179 lb. Eagle ($10 gold coin) (before 1837): 270 grains, or 0.0386 lb. Eagle (1837-1933): 258 grains, or 0.0369 lb. |
02-09-2014, 07:14 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
Quote:
GURPS follows the convention that a pound of silver is $1000, from which you can equate a shilling to $50, and a penny rounds down to $4 (and, conveniently, a farthing, a quarter of a penny—it's a cognate of fourth—is $1). A farthing, though, is an incredibly tiny weight. Bill Stoddard |
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02-09-2014, 09:16 PM | #6 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
Or possibly a coin made of a metal of less value than silver. Copper farthings were minted for centuries, and tin was used on occasion. The copper coins look to be about 1/5 of an ounce. About 4x that of a penny.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
02-09-2014, 09:20 PM | #7 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
You are correct. The treasure tables assume genuine treasure, not just stuff that happens to be lying around, by design.
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RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
02-09-2014, 09:22 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
Or some sort of trade token. However, I suspect a lot of small transactions like that weren't handled in coin.
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02-09-2014, 09:35 PM | #9 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY, USA. Near the river Styx in the 5th Circle.
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
A long while back I was writing up the data file for GURPS Banestorm and realized that coin weights weren't included in that text, outside of a very few. So I turned to Phil Masters to ask his opinion and got a well thought out essay of coins for that gameworld, which I'll present here as food for thought:
Quote:
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Eric B. Smith GURPS Data File Coordinator GURPSLand I shall pull the pin from this healing grenade and... Kaboom-baya. Last edited by ericbsmith; 02-09-2014 at 09:48 PM. |
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02-09-2014, 09:36 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: Equipment: How much does a coin weigh?
Quote:
Neither was the Troy system of any great antiquity in France: the Carolingian denier was established about 800 AD as 1/240 of a Roman pound of 326 grams.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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