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| Coinage There is little standardization in currency exchange rates throughout Gor. These ratios vary from city to city. The bankers, or literally the coin merchants, try to standarize coinage at each Sardar Fair but their motion never passes. Certain coins though are respected and accepted throughout the civilized cities. These include such coins as the gold tarns of Ar, Ko-ro-ba and Port Kar, golden staters from Brundisium, and the silver tarsk of Tharna. On Gor, the basic unit of currency is the tarsk coin, made of copper or silver. Each city then decides on the ratio between such coins. A tarsk bit is the smallest unit of currency. From four to twenty tarsk bits equals one copper tarsk. From forty to one hundred copper tarsks equals one silver tarsk. Ten silver tarsks equal one gold tarn disk. Gold tarn disks are also made in double weight. Some coins may be split into pieces to make change. A coin is about 1.5" in diameter and 3/8" thick. There is a tarn or tarsk on one side and usually a letter to identify the city of origin on the other side. There is no paper currency on Gor. The early novels mentioned the existence of copper and silver tarn disks but the later books, especially when discussing exchange rates, omit these coins. If you monitor the appearance of these tarn disks, they begin to disappear from the books as they progress. And the initial books neglect to mention tarsk disks. This seems to be another area where Norman chose to change matters in the latter books. The latter books should be taken as more authoritative in this matter as they are the ones where the issue of coinage is more thoroughly described. Tribesman of Gor, #10, may be the last book to mention a copper or silver tarn disk. To most Goreans, a silver tarsk is a coin of considerable value. A gold tarn disk is more than many common laborers earn in a year. A gold tarn may buy a tarn or five slave girls. Five pieces of gold is a fortune and one can live in many cities for years on such resources. For the most part, many items on Gor will sell for copper tarsks. Business is often conducted by notes and letters of credit. Most cities have their own mints. Coins are struck, one at a time, by a hammer pounding on the flat cap of a die. Coins are not made to be easily stacked. In some cities, such as Tharna, coins are drilled so that they might be stringed. A coin is a way in which a government certifies that a given amount of precious metal is involved in a transaction. It saves the need of weighing and testing each coin, thus making commerce much easier. But, some less scrupulous people may shave coins, slicing slivers of metal off of them. This is akin to theft and fraud. The coin is worth less than it should be. |
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