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Originally Posted by skip spence
*Here's a curious one: during the Orc wars one of the Dwarves (I forget who) goes to Moria and is heckled at the Gate by the Orcs who throw spare change at his feet and call him a beggar. So Orcs also have money and make business, one might presume...
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As a sort of general remark, I did not mention it in my earlier elaboration, because I considered it self-evident, but it seems clear to me that the more the dominion of Men was coming, the more the money was used also among other nations: simply this "invention" of Men (as I believe it is, for reasons visible above) was used so widely and the Men were everywhere, so it basically became convenient to trade with the help of money (with the exception of the Elves, who I think would have stayed with their original way of trade). However, among themselves, and in some isolated communities or in the case of some pacts (Men of Dale-Dwarves of Erebor? Some Easterlings-Sauron?), I can see the barter system still working. It was normal in the Middle Ages e.g. for vassals to give certain sums, like tribute, in, say, horses. I can imagine some of the Easterlings giving tribute to Sauron in such way, for example.
And, of course, as for the use of money by Sauron, I have no doubt that it was just a wonderful means to corrupt Men, so I am sure that at least in the exterior relations, he would've started using it very soon. After all, money is the root of all evil, right?
The example with the Black Rider is a very good show of that.
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*And when the Black Rider comes to the Shire he offers to pay for good information regarding Mr. Baggins, does he not?
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If I recall correctly, Khamul says "I will come back and bring
gold". I believe that this is supposed to mean gold as in money, not some sort of golden ingots. I also have no doubt that something like that would be expected to mean a lot for a simple farmer like Maggot was. One interesting thing I would like to note, it seems to me that Khamul acts a bit "alienly" in this way, though, basically in the same way as I would assume some, indeed, alien from space would act if it came to Earth, about which he had learned only from books, and tried to bribe some local people. Of course, it has to do with lots of things: Khamul was in a foreign land and totally alien (indeed) society, he tried to use the method which Sauron's agents normally use for the corrupt Men for the hobbits, he also had not been doing such things very often, probably; on top of that, he was a wraith, who knows how much of empathy for human feelings, including greed, was left in him; and I wonder if even during his life, Khamul did not live in still a "pre-monetary" society, especially being an Easterling and all - so the whole concept just would not be part of his "cultural background"...