Well, I know Bilbo gave Sam a bag of gold coins; the last of the "Smaug vintage". And in HoME Vol. 6, Tolkien makes mention of "silver pennies" (which were worth considerably more than a penny.)
So there were coins of some kind. I image each province or kingdom had their own coin, but since they were made of gold and silver, they were probably universally acceptable whereever money was needed in Middle Earth.. which wasn't too many places.
Of course, after Bree, I don't think the Fellowship had to pay for much of anything. And once Frodo destroyed the ring, I imagine "his money was no good" about whereever he went. At least until he got back to the Shire.
|