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Coinage and the Tyranny of Fantasy 'Gold'

This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly in the context of modern fantasy and roleplaying settings. In particular, the notions I want to …

I’ve been told some collectors prefer the sestertius because while it was a lower valued denomination in antiquity, the large size means that the artwork on the coin is often more easily visible today.Unlike the Greeks, the Romans don’t have jumbo-sized unminted accounting units. Indeed, Tacitus describes how the gift of weapons was what enabled a young man to take a full place in public life among Germanic tribes – a custom that we see echoes of in other non-state communities and so may assume did, in fact, occur – “But it is unusual for anyone to wear arms before the civitas has recognized their right to them. And that sort of thing: working one’s way up from helping peasants who can’t pay with anything more than a good meal and supplies to the road up to gifts that come freighted with deep social significance and change a person’s very status in society – that’s a much richer tapestry to weave a story out of than ‘gold.’

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