"By this time I had followed Harold over to a corner of the courtyard wall, which was heaped high banked into the corner, with precious metals, plates, cups; bowls of jewels; necklaces and bracelets; boxes of coins and in heavy, wooden crates, numerous stacked cubes of silver and gold, each stamped with its weight, for the palace of a Ubar is also the mint of a city, where its coins are struck one at a time by a hammer pounding on the flat cap of a die. Incidentally, Gorean coins are not made to be stacked and accordingly, because of the possible depth of the relief and the consequent liberties accorded to the artist, the Gorean coin is almost always more beautiful than the machine-milled, flat uniform coins of Earth. Some Gorean coins are drilled, incidentally, to allow stringing, the coins of Tharna, for example; Turian coins, and most others, are not."
Nomads of Gor pg. 251

"The merchant turned to me. He handed me a silver tarsk from the purse. "You need give me nothing," I said. It was not important. "Take, if you will," said he, "as a token of my gratitude, this silver tarsk." I took it. "Thank you," I said. Several of the men about, striking their shoulders in the Gorean fashion, applauded the merchant. He had been very generous. A silver tarsk is, to most Goreans, a coin of considerable value. In most exchanges, it is valued at a hundred copper tarsks, each of which valued, commonly, at some ten to twenty tarsk bits. Ten silver tarsks, usually, is regarded as the equivalent of one gold piece, of one of the high cities. To be sure, there is little standardization of these matters, for much depends on the actual weights of the coins and the quantities of precious metals, certified by the municipal stamps, contained in the coins. Sometimes, too, coins are split or shaved. Further, the debasing of coinage is not unknown. Scales, and rumors, it seems are often used by coin merchants. One of the central coins on Gor is the golden tarn disk of Ar, against which many cities standardize their own gold piece. Other generally respected coins tend to be the silver tarsk of Tharna, the golden tarn disk of Ko-ro-ba, and the golden tarn of Port Kar, the latter particularly on the western Vosk, in the Tamber Gulf region, and a few hundred pasangs north and south of the Vosk's delta."
Rogue of Gor pg. 155

"The representative of the Merchants, to whom I reported my business, and to whom I paid for warfage, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of registration of the Tesephone in Tabor. The merchants, who control Lydius, under merchant law, for it is a free port, like Helmutsport, Schendi, and Bazi, are more interested in having their port heavily trafficked than strictly policed. Indeed, at the wharves I had even seen two green ships. Green is the color common to pirates. I supposed, did they pay their warfage and declare some sort of business, the captains of those ships were as little interrogated as I. The governance of Lydius, under the merchants, incidentally, is identical to that of the exchange islands, or free islands, in Thassa. Three with which I was familiar, from various voyages, were Tabor, Teletus, and, to the north, offshore from Torvaldsland, Scagnar. Of these, to be honest, and to give the merchants their due, I will admit that Tabor and Teletus are rather strictly controlled. It is said, however, by some of the merchants there, that this manner of caution and restriction, has to some extent diminished their position in the sphere of Trade. Be that as it may, Lydius, though not what you would call an open port, was indulgent, and permissive. Most ports and islands on Thassa, of course, are not managed by the merchants, but commonly by magistrates appointed by the city councils."
Hunters of Gor pg. 43

"I could recall that once, it now seemed long ago, this girl in a marvelously staged sale, with all the skills of the great auction house, the Curulean, in Ar, had, with two other girls, Virginia Kent and Phyllis Robertson, brought fifteen hundred gold pieces. Virginia Kent had become the Free Companion of the warrior Relius of Ar. Ho-Sorl, another warrior of Ar, had obtained Phyllis Robertson. I expected he still kept her in collar and silk, liking her that way. Now this girl, once Elizabeth Cardwell, of Earth, now a paga slave in Lydius, would bring only fifteen to twenty five pieces of gold. Contexts, and markets, were interesting."
Hunters of Gor pg. 61

"The baker had tied the sack about her neck, with a bakers knot, fastened behind the back of her neck. The girl is not supposed to be able to see to undo the knot. Even it she works it about before her throat, she cannot see it. If she should untie it, it is unlikely she will be able to retie it properly. Naturally the sack may not be opened unless the knot has been undone. The bakers knot is supposed to minimize the amount of pilfering of pastries, and such, which might otherwise be done by slave girls."
Hunters of Gor pg. 65

"It was not that I had difficulty in adding and subtracting, of course, but rather that I was not always as knowledgeable as I might be about the relative values of various coins, of numerous cities, which depended on such things as composition and weights, and exchange rates, which might fluctuate considerably. For example, if a city debases its coinage, openly of secretly, perhaps as an economy measure, to increase the amount of money in circulation, or there is a rumor to that effect, this will be reflected in the exchange rates. Many Gorean bankers, not only the fellows sitting on a rug in their booth on a street, their sleen about, but also those in the palaces and fortresses on the Streets of Coins, work with scales. Too, sometimes coins are literally chopped into pieces. This is regularly done with copper tarsks, to produce, usually, the eight tarsk bit equivalent in most cities to the copper tarsk. Every year at the Sadar Fair there is a motion before the bankers, literally, the coin merchants, to introduce a standardization of coinage among the major cities. To date, however, this has not been accomplished."
Magicians of Gor pg. 411

"The public slave wagons, incidentally, also provide Paga. They are kind of a combination Paga tavern and slave market. I know of nothing else precisely like them on Gor. Kamchak and I had visited one last night where I had ended up spending four copper tarn disks for one bottle of paga."
Nomads of Gor pg. 118

"I threw a silver tarsk, taken from what we had obtained from the slavers in the marsh, to the proprietor of the paga tavern, and took in return on of the huge bottles of paga, of the sort put in the pouring sling, and reeled out of the tavern, making my way along the narrow walkway lining the canal, toward the quarters taken by my men, Thurnock and Clitus, with our slaves."
Raiders of Gor pg. 111

"'I should have brought a thousand pieces of gold," she said. "As the daughter of Marlenus of Ar my companion price might be a thousand tarns, five thousand tharlarions!"
Marauders of Gor pg. 14

"'A small bottle," I said, "of the Slave Gardens of Anesidemus." "...."Oh, it is marvelous ka-la-na," she purred. I gathered that she had never before had such ka-la-na. True, it might run the buyer as much as three copper tarsks, a price for which some women can be purchased."
Mercenaries of Gor pg. 344 & 346

"As the woman approached I suddenly became aware again of Saphrar speaking. "Behold my ward," he was saying, indicating the approaching girl. "The richest woman in all Turia," Kamchak said. "When she reaches her majority," Saphrar remarked. Until then, I gathered, her means were in the doubtless capable hands of Saphrar the merchant. The supposition was later confirmed by Kamchak. Saphrar was not related to the girl, but had been appointed by the Turian merchants, on whom he undoubtedly exercised considerable influence, the guardian of the girl following the death of her father in a Paravaci caravan raid several years before. The father of Aphris of Turia, Tethrar of Turia, had been the richest merchant in this city, itself one of the richest cities of Gor. There had been no surviving male heir and the considerable wealth of Tethrar of Turia was now that of his daughter, Aphris, who would assume control of these remarkable fortunes upon attaining her majority, which event was to occur this spring."
Nomads of Gor pg. 91

Quotes II




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