MONEY in middle earth?

[Rumil]

Hi all.

William CH, I see your point, English silver pennies, nice pics of them here Silver Pennies, (rather Tolkienesque to my thinking). Hmm, so 4 silver pennies per cow? That sort of fits, the same as Bill's recommended retail price!

In a flash of mental arithmetic, Butterbur in fact paid 6 silver pence per pony to Merry in compensation for their theft (ie 18 pence direct plus 12 for Bill the Pony for the 5 ponies; Sharp-ears, Wise-nose, Swish-tail and Bumpkin, White-socks my little lad, but not Old Fatty Lumpkin). This is 50% more than Bill was supposed to be worth, but the hobbits' ponies were surely in good condition.

I think the mirian/castar must have been gold surely?

Was there small change? Well, I don't think there's any specific mention, but Bilbo does give some pennies to the Hobbit children I guess its most likely these were coppers of some sort? (Though I wouldn't put it past Bilbo to scatter a few weeks' wages to the local kids!).

When the Man in the Moon Came Down too Soon he paid 21 pearls and unspecifid amounts of silver for cold porridge, but that was a complete ripoff!