hey Ed, have an odd question. How and where are coins minted in the FR? Are they made at a single location? Struck? Injected or poured into moulds? 1)
This is covered in the ED GREENWOOD PRESENTS ELMINSTER’S FORGOTTEN REALMS sourcebook, p118-123, but the short answers are: coins are “struck” all over the Realms, by the treasuries of kingdoms or city-states, whenever they…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2021
2)
…want to issue more coinage (thus who do so too seldom pinch the prosperity of their region and make it less attractive to outside trade, those who do it too often devalue their currency so a gold coin buys less), and are most… 3)
…often made by deriving an alloy dominated by copper, silver, gold, or whatever the coin is “supposed to be made of,” heating it to soft state, and striking it with a mallet or hammer and a punch or die of harder (and colder)…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2021
4)
…metal that impresses a pattern in the soft hot alloy, then treating the obverse the same way, then (for the highest quality coins) clamping the coin and polishing it with an abrasive (usually a sand-like coarse mix), cleaning… 5)
…up the edges and any piercings (many coins have central holes) with a rat-tail file, and so on. (Some edge treatments are done with stamps or a lathe-like foot-treadle wheel, some “brightenings” are done with acidic chemical…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2021
6)
…baths that are then hastily washed off, and so on.)
Royal or secular, mints are heavily-guarded places where guards (including spellcasters) keep a close eye on who has the punches/dies at every moment, who’s given access to… 7)
…them, and the lives and doings of the workers who make coins (to cut down on blackmail and dishonesty; if the coin-makers are rich and happy, there’s little temptation or opportunities for others to gain a hold and coerce).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2021
8)
A few coins have been made with molten metals poured into molds, but the results have been inferior coins if the metals are too pure (e.g. all copper, not an alloy), there’ve been problems with separating coins from molds… 9)
…without a lot of oil or animal fat lubricants that often taint the coins and make them less durable/long-lasting, and there’ve been problems with surreptitious wax impressions being made of molds, so molds can be duplicated…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2021
10)
…and then counterfeiting can be swift and have big outputs, meaning certain coins aren’t truasted at all, which is a headache across much of the planet. So, molds have so far been unpopular.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2021