About Coins

There are thee common coins in the kingdom on Morcron produced by the royal mints. They are the Harving, Florance and Ducket. The Harving is the most common coin, being a blend of half Copper and Nickel. Next is the Florance, commonly called "Royals" as well. They are made of half Silver and half Nickel. Two Harvings have the same value as one Florance. Lastly is the Ducket, also known as a "Crown". Duckets are rather rare and valuable, being made from half Gold and half Nickel. A single Ducket is equal in value to 50 Florances or 100 Harvings. Each of these three coins are about the size of the American Quarter, weighing about 6 grams. Each is about 1 / 40,000 a unit of metal.

Medieval Work Standards

The concept of the eight hour work day or a five day work week is a modern concept. Throughout much of history, most people worked every day of their life. Most workers also worked for nearly 10 hours a day. Most jobs were very near to one's home and most people walked no more than 5 or 10 minutes to work each day. Able bodied men worked, and women married to stay home with children and take care of the residence. Families relied upon older boys and mom to take care of nearly every responsibility of the home such as repairs, cleaning, cooking and heating. Unlike today there were very few laws that protected the safety of workers. Often the only thing that encouraged lords to look after the safety of workers was the financial hardship he would experience from loosing a vassal's labor. Even worse, individuals had little choice of what job they did. If you were lucky in such a system, your father would manage to get you apprenticed into a trade that was safer, easier and more respected than others. Most often a person was expected to do the same labor their father did.

Standard "Wages"

Few individuals who worked were paid an actual monetary wage. Most people traded the goods their labors produced, or took payment for services in goods. A lord had two basic options as to how he might have his vassals conduct trade. The first was the traditional feudal system where peasants and surfs did their labors, gave a share of their produce to their lord, and traded or used the rest to meet their needs. Another option allowed currency where vassals bought and sold goods and services with coin, and had to pay their lord's taxes in coin. Though this system was good for lords in that it gave them coin with which to buy any good or services they desired, it also forced a lord to pay people working for him. The ability of vassals to earn, own and acquire currency also empowered them to move up the social ladder, and in time, wealthy vassals could become more wealthy, influential and powerful than lords. Most lords adopted a mixed approach promoting a currency economy in cities that facilitated the production of quality goods and a currency tax base, while keeping peasants and surfs in the country producing basic goods like food and limber.

In instances where a worker must be paid in coin to perform labor, here is a table that represents average wages.

How were average wages determined?

At first, I attempted to simply assign wage and relative currency values that seemed reasonable, and extrapolate everything from that as the economic base. Later, I found a problem in how this all related to the rate at which precious metals were extracted from the earth and refined. I decided a completely new approach was needed. First I determined how much raw material was needed for how many coins. After using the American Quarter as a base, I found that 40,000 coins could be minted from a single cubic foot of metal (1 unit). I then decided the best way to value labor was to base it on the actual production of the currency. Using the system mechanics presented, I did a rather complicated equation that took into account all of the labor required to make 40,000 coins of the three various sorts, and divided the coins by the amount of labor to produce them. Basically, if you had a large number of workers doing all of the things needed to produce coins using these system mechanics, in completely average circumstances, you would make a modest profit paying all your workers 7 Harvings an hour. The various tasks I included in this labor equation were, mining effort, manufacture of replenishment mining tools, smelting labor, production of expended smelting fuel, minting efforts, production of expended minting dyes, a modest allowance for transportation needs and a 10% allowance for profit and those pesky unforeseen expenses that always seem to pop up.

Is it possible to mint your own coins ?

Yes and no...

The physical minting process is relatively easy. Any blacksmith and Blacksmithy will be a good start. From there, a special set of Minting Dies are required to stamp the coins. These Minting Dies can only be made by an adept engraver. A set of Minting Dies can be used to fabricate as many as 10,000 coins. Aside from making your own Minting Dies (which is illegal), they can be obtained or purchased by special arrangement with the government. Once these things are had, you need the metals, 50% gold, silver or copper and 50% nickel. The blacksmith melts the metals together and forms them to coins using the Minting Dies. This requires 2 units of metal for every 80,000 coins. A minter can produce about 200 coins in a day. ( Thus breaking down the Die after about 50 days). If you want to make a Minting Die that creates a different type of coin from the Harving, Florance or Ducket, any blacksmith or engraver can do it. If the Dies are not made by a Grand master engraver these coins will be obviously inferior. Minting any coin outside of the legal standard three using proper Dies in proper metal quantities with the kings blessing is Illegal.