MONEY in middle earth?

[Rumil]

Hi Eothain,

Welcome to the dark and dusty realm of the Barrow Downs!!

Some previous information on money

Money 1

Money 2

Bill Ferny's price was twelve silver pennies; and that was indeed at least three times the pony's value in those parts.

Not sure what a pony usually cost in Bree but I had a quick look online and found ponies for £200 (up-to large sums for thoroughbreds!). Bill the pony was in a rough state so would be at the cheap end of the scale, so lets say that very approximately one silver penny = £50. Any pony fanciers in today?? Also quite roughly, an ounce of silver is worth about £10 today (though a 1oz silver coin is 4cm across so is quite chunky).

The Numenorean tharni, we are told, was a silver coin, the fourth part of a castar. The tharni may thus have been equivalent to the silver pennies of Eriador. The Elven equivalents for tharni and castar were canath (from kanat-, 'four') and mirian (from mir, 'a jewel or precious thing').

(after davem and mm).