Gold and Silver

A traditional assumption of fantasy games (and many fantasy nov-
els) is that gold and silver are heavy, and inconvenient to carry around
for purchases. If you are the GM, this is true only if you want it to be
true.
Historically, gold and silver were very valuable – and many goods
were cheap. For an authentic medieval English (14th-century) econo-
my, treat the $ as a “farthing”: a copper coin about an inch across. A
silver penny is worth $4 and is less than half an inch across; 250 such
coins ($1,000) weigh one pound. If silver and gold trade at 20 to 1 (a
reasonable ratio for much of history), a pound of gold is worth
$20,000! A man could carry a king’s ransom in his backpack.
On the other hand, a GM who wants wealth to be less portable
might assume that the $ is a one-ounce silver coin, like a silver dollar.
A one-ounce gold piece would then be worth $20. At that rate, 12 coins
(troy weight) would weigh a pound; a pound of gold would be worth
only $240. In such a world, precious gems are the only way to carry a
large amount of wealth in a small package, and caravans loaded with
gold might actually exist!