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Gorean Coin
Usually 8 (copper) tarsk bits in a copper tarsk (can be 4 or 10 depending on city) 100 of those copper tarsks in a silver tarsk 10 silver tarsks in a gold tarn 2 gold tarns to a double-weight gold tarn To be sure, much seems to depend on the city and the particular weight involved. For example, a "double Tarn" is twice the weight of a "tarn." It seems there are usually eight tarsk bits in a copper tarsk, and that these are the result of cutting a circular coin in half, and then the halves in half, and then each of these haves in half. An analogy would be the practice of cutting the round flat Gorean loaves of sa-tarna bread into eight pieces. There are apparently something like 100 copper tarsks in a silver tarsk in many cities. Similarly, something like ten silver tarsks would apparently be equivalent, depending on weight, etc., to one gold piece, say, a single "tarn." Accordingly, on this approach, the equivalencies, very approximately, and probably only for certain cities, would be eight tarsk bits to one copper tarsk; one hundred copper tarsks to a silver tarsk; ten silver tarsk to a gold piece, a single tarn. On this approach there would be, literally, 8,000 tarsk bits in a single gold piece. Magicians Chopped into triangular pieces to get the "bits" as in tarsk bits “Your master charges a tarsk bit for your use?” I asked. “Yes,” she said. “Open your mouth,” I said. She did so, and I drew forth a tarsk bit from my pouch, this one not a separate coin in the sense of round or square coin, but a piece of such a coin, a narrow, triangular, chopped eighth of a copper tarn disk, and placed it in her mouth. Renegades Minting of coins The palace of a Ubar is also the mint of a city"The tarsk is a silver coin worth forty copper tarn disks" Assassin "One of the guardsmen opened her mouth, not gently, and retrieved the coin, a rather large one, a tarsk bit. Ten such coins make a copper tarsk. A hundred copper tarsks make a silver tarsk." Explorers By this time I had followed Harold over to a corner of the courtyard wall, which was heaped high, banked into the , corner, with precious metals, plates, cups; bowls of jewels; necklaces and bracelets; boxes of coins and, in heavy, wood en crates, numerous stacked cubes of silver and gold, each ; stamped with its weight, for the palace of a Ubar is also the mint of a city, where its coins are struck one at a time by a hammer pounding on the flat-cap of a die. Incidentally, Gorean coins are not made to be stacked and accordingly, because of the possible depth of the relief and the consequent liberties accorded to the artist, the Gorean coin is almost always more beautiful than the machine-milled, flat, uniform coins of Earth. Some Gorean coins are drilled, incidentally, to allow stringing, the coins of Tharna, for example; Turian coins, and most others, are not. Nomads A silver tarsk is, to most Goreans, a coin of considerable value. In most exchanged, it is valued at a hundred copper tarsks, each of which valued, commonly, at some ten to twenty tarsk bits. Ten silver tarsks, usually, is regarded as the equivalent of one gold piece, of one of the high cities. To be sure, there is little standardization in these matter, for much depends on the actual weights of the coins and quantities of precious metals, certified by the municipal stamps, contained in the coins. Sometimes, too, coins are split or shaved. Further the debasing of coinage is not unknown. Scales and rumors, it seems are often used by coin merchants. One of the central coins on Gor is the golden tarn disk of Ar, against which many cities standardize their own gold piece. Other generally respected coins tend to be the silver tarsk of Tharna, the golden tarn disk of Ko-ro-ba, and the golden tarn of Port Kar, the latter particularly on the western Vosk, in the Tamber Gulf region, and a few hundred pasangs north and south of the Bosk's delta. Rogue With him, in the longboat, in a round, bronze can, with twist lid, he had taken his scales, collapsible, of bronze and chain, with their weights. I knew that Gurt of Kassau, too, would bring his scales. I hoped that the weights matched, for if they did not, there would be trouble indeed. Gurt, I knew, if wise, would not attempt to cheat the Forkbeard. I had less confidence in the weights of the man of Torvaldsland. "Have you a coin you wish to check?" had asked Ivar, seriously, of me. "All right," I had said, sensing his amusement. I had drawn forth from my pouch a golden tarn. He had placed it on the scale. "Unfortunately," said he, "this coin is debased. It is only three-quarters weight." "It bears the stamp," said I, "of the mints of Ar." "I would have thought better of the mints of Ar," said he. "If Ar were to produce debased coins," I said, "her trade would be reduced, if not ruined." "Have you another coin?" he asked. I put a silver Tarsk, of Tharna, on the scale. He changed his weight. "Debased," said he. "It is only three-quarters weight." "Tharna, too," I said, "is apparently tampering with her coinage." "The worst," said Ivar Forkbeard, "is likely to be the coinage of Lydius." "I expect so," I said. I smiled. The ransom money of Gurt of Kassau would, doubtless, be largely composed of the stamped coin of Lydius. The only mint at which gold coins were stamped within a thousand pasangs was in Lydius, at the mouth of the Laurius. Certain jarls, of course, in a sense, coined money, marking bars of iron or gold, usually small rectangular solids, with their mark. Ring money was also used, but seldom stamped with a jarl’s mark. Each ring, strung on a larger ring, would be individually weighed in scales. Many trans-actions are also done with fragments of gold and silver, often broken from larger objects, such as cups or plates, and these must be individually weighed. Indeed, the men of the north think little of breaking apart objects which, in the south, would be highly prized for their artistic value, simply to obtain pieces of negotiable precious metal. The fine candle-sticks from the temple of Kassau, for example, I expected would be chopped into bits small enough for the pans of the northern scales. Of their own art and metalwork, however, it should be mentioned that the men of the north are much more respectful. A lovely brooch, for example, wrought by a northern craftsman, would be seldom broken or mutilated. "I have two pair of scales," admitted Ivar Forkbeard, grinning. "These are my trading scales," he said. "Do you think Gurt of Kassau will accept your scales?" I asked. The Forkbeard fingered the silver chain of office, looped about his neck, which he had taken from the administrator of Kassau. "Yes," he said, "I think so." We laughed together. Marauders gorean_librarian@yahoo.com 
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