For what it's worth, in The Return of the Shadow (HOME), an early draft of the scene where Merry is compensated for his ponies' loss has him receiving twenty silver pennies, 'less the cost of their food and lodging'. The price of the ragged beast bought in Bree was six.
That as opposed to LOTR, where Ferny's price was twelve, and Butterbur added another eighteen.
If thirty was really intended by Tolkien to mean something from the start, why the change?
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