Costs of goods & services on Gor

The various prices and coins had totaled eleven tarn disks of Ar, and four of Turia. To his nine men, apiece, he had thrown a tarn disk of Ar. The rest he kept for himself. A gold tarn disk of Ar is more than many common laborers earn in a year. Many low-caste Goreans have never held one in their hand.
Tribesmen

Eighty tarn disks for hired sword for caravan
Kazrak, as he had promised, turned over the balance of his hiring price to me - a very respectable eighty tarn discs. I argued with him to accept forty, on the ground that he was a sword brother, and at last convinced him to accept half of his own wages back. I felt better about this arrangement. Also, I didn't want Kazrak, when his wound was healed, to be reduced to challenging some luckless warrior for a bottle of Ka-la-na wine.
Tarnsman

A thousand gold tarn disks to carry off the Tatrix of Tharna
"I can help you obtain not only a tarn," said the man, "but a thousand golden tarn disks and provisions for as lengthy a journey as you might wish."
...
"What would you have me do?" I demanded.
"Carry off a woman," he said.
The light drizzle of rain, almost a gray mist matching the miserable solemnity of Tharna, had not abated, and had, by now, soaked through my garments. The wind, which I had not noticed before now, seemed cold.
"What woman?" I asked.
"Lara," said he.
"And who is Lara?" I asked.
"Tatrix of Tharna," he said.
Outlaw

20 double weight gold tarn disks for an Assassin to go from Ko-ro-ba to Ar to avenge Tarl's death
Without speaking the man took twenty pieces of gold, tarn disks of Ar, of double weight, and gave them to Kuurus, who placed them in the pockets of his belt. The Assassins, unlike most castes, do not carry pouches.
Assassin

Copper tarn disk to kill 4 men
"Then you have money," said Kuurus, and stood up behind the table, slinging the sheath of the short sword about his shoulder.
Hup wildly thrust a small, stubby, knobby hand into his pouch and hurled a coin, a copper tarn disk, to Kuurus, who caught it and placed it in one of the pockets of his belt.
"Do not interfere," snarled the man who held the hook knife.
"There are four of us," said another, putting his hand on his sword.
"I have taken money," said Kuurus.
The men in the tavern, and the girls, began to move away from the tables.
"We are Warriors," said another.
Then a coin of gold struck the table before the Assassin, ringing on the wood.
All eyes turned to face a paunchy man, in a robe of blue and yellow silk. "I am Portus," he said. "Do not interfere, Assassin."
Kuurus picked up the coin and fingered it, and then he looked at Portus. "I have already taken money," he said.
Assassin

Swords for hire are well paid
"Surely there are many Warriors in the city," said Kuurus.
"Yes," said Portus, "but they do little they are well paid, more than twice what was done before, but they spend the mornings in practices with arms, and the afternoons and evenings in the taverns, the gaming rooms and baths of the city."
"There are swords for hire?" asked Kuurus.
"Yes," said Portus, "and the rich Merchants, and the great houses, those on the Street of Coins, and on the Street of Brands, hire their own men." He smiled. "Further," said he, "Merchants arm and train squads of such men and rent them, for high wages, to the citizens of given streets and cylinders."
Assassin

4 double gold pieces, as a reward, for having killed 4 men of the enemy
"But you are welcome in this house," said Cernus. "As you presumably know these are difficult times in Ar, and a good sword is a good investment, and steel in these days is upon occasion more valuable than gold."
I nodded.
"I will upon occasion," said Cernus, "have commissions for you." He looked down on me. "But for the time," he said, "it is valuable for me simply for it to be known that your sword is in this house."
"I await your commands," I said.
"You will be shown to your quarters," said Cernus, gesturing to a nearby man-at-arms.
I turned to follow the man-at-arms.
"Incidentally," said me, "Killer."
I turned to face him.
"It is known to me that in the tavern of Spindius, you slew four Warriors of the House of Portus."
I said nothing.
"Four pieces of gold," said Cernus, "double tarns, will be sent to your rooms."
I nodded my head.
Assassin

Four pounds of gold each to men helping a political takeover
"It is the same as the others," he said. "They were hired by the men of Henrius Sevarius, some to slay captains, some to fire the wharves and arsenal." The scribe looked up at me. "Tonight," he said, "Sevarius was to be Ubar of Port Kar, and each was to have a stone of gold."
Raiders

A hundred stone (400 pounds) of gold for "rental" of ten roundships, 100 tarns, and men, in a battle
"You have, in the ten round ships," I said, "one hundred tarns, with riders."
"Yes," said he, "and, as you asked, with each tarn a knotted rope and five of the seamen of Port Kar."
I looked down into the open hold of the round ship. The wicked, curved, scimitarlike beak of the unhooded tarn lifted itself. Its eyes blazed. It looked like a good bird. I regretted that it was not Ubar of the Skies. It was a reddish brown tarn, a fairly common coloring for the great birds. Mine own had been black-plumaged, a giant tam, glossy, his great talons shod with steel, a bird bred for speed and war, a bird who had been, in his primitive, wild way, my friend. I had driven him from the Sardar.
"I will have a hundred stone of gold for the use of these birds and my men," said Terence of Treve.
"You shall have it," I said.
Raiders

A silver tarn disk for a pot of Kal-da, bread, honey and meat
I took a coin from the leather sack and threw it to the proprietor. He snatched it expertly from the air like a skeptical cormorant. He examined the coin. It was a silver tarn disk. He bit against the metal, the muscles on his jaw bulging in the lamplight. A trace of avaricious pleasure appeared in his eyes. I knew he would not care to return it.
"What caste is it?" I demanded.
The proprietor smiled. "Money has no caste," he said.
"Bring me food and drink," I said.
I had hardly settled myself behind the table when the proprietor had placed a large, fat pot of steaming Kal-da before me.
...
The proprietor arrived with hot bread, honey, salt and, to my delight, a huge, hot roasted chunk of tarsk. I crammed my mouth with food and washed it down with another thundering draught of Kal-da.
Outlaw

A silver tarsk for a bottle of Ka-la-na
"Well," said Elizabeth, turning to me, who had been standing there, as flabbergasted as any on the bridge, "we shall have some." She looked at me. "You there," she said, "a coin for Ka-la-na."
Dumbfounded I reached in my pouch and handed her a coin; a silver Tarsk.
Elizabeth then took Relia by one arm and Rena by the other. "We are off," she announced, "to buy a bottle of wine."
Assassin

Under different market conditions or perhaps lesser quality vintages, a copper tarn disk for a bottle of ka-la-na wine
The guards had liked us, muchly, and had apparently expected that they would for, to our delight, they had purchased a small bottle of Ka-la-na wine, in a wicker basket, which they had permitted us, swallow by swallow, to share. I had never tasted so rich and delicate a wine on Earth, and yet here, on this world, it cost only a copper tarn disk and was so cheap, and plentiful, that it might be given even to a female slave.
Captive

A copper tarsk for a (dirty) cup of water in Tor
"Water! Water!" called the man.
"Water," I said.
He came to me, bent over, tattered, swarthy, grinning up at me, the verrskin bag over his shoulder, the brass cups, a dozen of them, attached to shoulder straps and his belt, rattling and clinking. His shoulder on the left was damp from the bag. There were sweat marks on his torn shirt, under the straps. One of the brass cups he unhooked from his belt. Without removing the bag from his shoulder, he filled the cup.
...
The cup was dirty.
I took the water and gave the man a copper tarsk.
I smelled the spices and sweat of Tor. I drank slowly. The sun was high.
Tor, lying at the northwest corner of the Tahari, is the principal supplying point for the scattered oasis communities of that dry vastness, almost a continent of rock, and heat, and wind and sand.
Tribesmen

A silver tarsk for a bottle of paga
I threw a sliver tarsk, taken from what we had obtained from the slavers in the marsh, to the proprietor of the paga tavern, and took in return one of the huge bottles of paga, out of the tavern, making my way along the narrow walkway lining the canal, toward the quarters taken by my men, Thurnock and Clitus, with our slaves.
Raiders

Many prices of food, drink & lodging
Behind the desk, on the wall, there was posted a list of prices. They were quite high. I did not think that those were normal prices. If they were, I did not see how the inn could manage to be competitive. I struck the keeper's desk twice more. There was a tharlarion-oil lamp hanging on three chains from the ceiling, to my right, above the desk. Sample items from the list were as follows:

Bread and Paga	2 C.T.
Other Food	3-5 C.T.
Lodging	10 C.T.
Blankets	2 C.T.
Bath	1 C.T.
Bath girl	2 C.T.
Sponge, oil and strigil	1 C.T.
Girl for the night	5 C.T.
T., Greens and Stable	2 C.T. (Note - T. = Tharlarion)
T., Meat and Cot	5 C.T. (Note - T. = Tarn)

A comment, or two, might be in order on this list of prices. First, it will be noted that they are not typical. In many inns, depending on the season, to be sure, and the readiness of the keeper to negotiate, one can stay for as little as two or three copper tarsks a day, everything included, within reason, of course, subject to some restraint with respect to paga, and such. Also, the bath girl, and the sponge, oil and strigil, in most establishments, come with the price of the bath itself. The prices on the list on the wall seemed excessive, perhaps to a factor of five or more. The prices, of course, were in terms of copper tarsks.
For purposes of comparison, in many paga taverns, one may have paga and food, and a girl for the alcove, if one wants, for a single copper tarsk. Dancers, to be sure, sometimes cost two.
Renegades

Appraised at 25 gold pieces
Elizabeth regarded the free woman. "Well," she said, "you are rather beautiful, aren't you?"
The free woman stopped wailing. "Do you think so?" she asked.
"Twenty gold pieces, I'd say," appraised Elizabeth.
"I'd give twenty-three," said one of the men watching, the same fellow whom Elizabeth had slapped.
In fury the free woman turned about and slapped him again, it not being his day in Ko-ro-ba.
"What do you think?" asked Elizabeth of the cringing slave girl.
"Oh, I would not know," she said, "I am only a poor girl of Tyros."
"That is your misfortune," said Elizabeth. "What is your name?"
"Rena," said' she, "if it pleases Mistress."
"It will do," said Elizabeth. "Now what do you think?"
"Rena?" asked the girl.
"Yes," snapped Elizabeth. "Perhaps you are a dull-witted slave?"
The girl smiled. "I would say twenty-five gold pieces," she said.
Elizabeth, with the others, inspected the free girl. "Yes," said Elizabeth, "Rena, I think you're right." Then she looked at the free girl. "What is your name, Wench?" she demanded.
The girl blushed. "Relia," she said. Then she looked at the slave girl. "Do you really think I would bring so high a price Rena?"
Assassin

In Victoria, ten silver tarsks
"She is worth at least ten silver tarsks," speculated Tasdron. This heartened me, for Tasdron was quite skilled in the assessment of female slaves. As the owner of a paga tavern, he had bought and sold many, of course. It was a form of merchandise with which he was quite familiar. It seemed to me not impossible, upon reflection, that the voluptuous Shirley, put upon the block, exhibited by a skilled auctioneer, might bring the very fine sum of ten silver tarsks.
Guardsman

Wagon peoples selling slaves to Turians, for as little as a brass cup, or as much as 40 gold pieces
women, customarily plainer ones they do not wish to keep for themselves; prettier wenches, to their dismay, are usually kept with the wagons; some of the plainer women are sold for as little as a brass cup; a really beautiful girl, particularly if of free birth and high caste, might bring as much as forty pieces of gold; such are, however, seldom sold; the Wagon Peoples enjoy being served by civilized slaves of great beauty and high station;
Nomads

40 gold pieces
Yesterday afternoon, for an incredible forty pieces of gold, four quivas and the saddle of a kaiila, Kamchak had sold Tenchika back to Albrecht. It was one of the highest prices ever paid among the wagons for a slave and 1 judged that Albrecht had sorely missed his little Tenchika; the high price he was forced to pay for the girl
Nomads

2 gold pieces a high price for raw girl in Laura
Same girl will likely bring 5 gold or more in a large market city
Considering the nature of the good commonly found in Laura, rough goods for the most part, one might have supposed it strange that Targo was bound for that city. It was not strange, however, for it was spring, and spring is the great season for slave raids. Indeed, the preceding fall, at the fair of Se’Kara, near the Sardar Mountains, he had contracted with a marauder, Haakon of Skjern, for one hundred northern beauties, to be taken from the villages, upward even to the edges of Torvaldsland. It was to collect this merchandise that Targo was venturing to Laura. He had already, at the fair, paid Haakon a deposit on this purchase, in the amount of fifty gold pieces. The balance of one hundred and fifty gold pieces would be due when the consignment was delivered. Two gold pieces is a high price for a raw girl, delivered in Laura, but, if the same girl can be brought safely to a large market city, she will probably bring five or more, even if untrained. Further, in offering as much as two gold pieces in Laura, Targo assured himself of first pick of Haakon’s choicest captures. Beyond this, Targo had speculated that since no city had recently fallen, and the house of Cernus had been destroyed in Ar, one of the great slave houses, that the market would be high this spring.
Captive

From ten to twenty gold pieces
It seems not unlikely that one of Targo’s village girls, if trained and brought to Ar, might net him from ten to fifteen, perhaps even twenty, gold pieces. His investment, in some respects an excellent one, was, however, not without its risks. It is not always easy to bring a beautiful girl to the market of Ar, where the highest prices are traditionally paid.
Captive

45 gold pieces
Out of the darkness came two men, warriors. Between them, face-stripped, was a woman, stumbling. Her arms, over her resplendent robes, were bound to her sides with a broad leather strap. She was thrown to the feet of Targo. I, and the other girls, crowded about, but the guards pushed us back with their spears. The woman struggled to her knees, but was not permitted to rise. Her eyes were wild. She shook her head, no. Targo then, piece by piece, from the leather pouch at his belt, handed forty-five pieces of gold to the chief of the two men. The girls cried out in amazement. It was a fantastic price. And he had not even assessed her! We realized then that she had been contracted for in advance. The two men took Targo’s gold and withdrew into the darkness.
Captive

Same girl to be resold for a hundred gold pieces
"You were foolish to hire mercenaries to guard you," said Targo.
"Please!" she cried.
I recognized her then. She was the woman with the retinue.
I felt pleasure.
"Please!" wept the woman. I admitted to myself that she was beautiful.
"You have an admirer," Targo told her, "a Captain of Tyros, who glimpsed you in Lydius last fall. He has contracted to buy you privately in Ar, to be taken to his pleasure gardens on Tyros. He will pay one hundred pieces of gold."
Several of the girls gasped.
"Who?’ asked the captive, plaintively.
"You will learn when you are sold to him," said Targo. "Curiosity is not becoming in a Kajira," said Targo. "You might be beaten for it."
Captive

"But it is a hundred pieces of gold," I said, "tarn disks of Ar, full weight." To be sure, I had not counted this, and I doubt that Marcus had either. On the other hand, it was the money which had been ready as a reward for she whose name earlier had been 'Ina' and I had no doubt that it had been carefully counted and weighed. If the amount had been short, in either number or weight, I would not have wished to be Octantius, dealing with his hirelings.
She looked at me, startled. Such an amount, one might expect to have been brought by the preferred pleasure slave of a Ubar.
"Had I thousand times more," exclaimed Marcus, "I would have given it all to you!"
She looked at him, frightened. It is one thing to go for a silver tarsk, or such, and quite another for a hundred pieces of gold. She knew, of course, something of the worth of women in the markets. She knew that she was not, for example, a trained slave, a high slave, a politically sensitive slave, the shackled daughter of a Ubar being publicly sold in the city of her father's conquerors, or such. Indeed, she was only a new slave. She probably did not even know the hundred kisses.
Marcus then put his hands on her ankles, preparing to separate them.
Vagabonds

Market conditions affecting price
In current market, in the area, most women selling for copper tarsks
"What is wrong with you, girl?" inquired Ephialtes.
"Oh, Master!" she wept, suddenly, and threw herself to her belly, putting out her small hand piteously to him.
"What is wrong?" asked Ephialtes.
"What of Liadne!" she wept.
"You are not even a free woman, as Phoebe," said Ephialtes. "You are a slave, a property, as Amina and Rimice."
"I know, Master," she wept. "I know!"
Ephialtes looked at her, puzzled.
"Do not sell me!" she wept. "Do not sell me, Master!"
"I do not understand," said Ephialtes.
"I love you, Master," she said. "I love you!"
"I am not your master," he said. "Tarl, of Port Kar, is your master. I have been holding you for him."
"Do not sell me, Master!" she begged.
"I do not own you," said Ephialtes. "You are not mine to sell."
She began to sob, uncontrollably.
I now understood what had been troubling Liadne. I should have thought of it before.
"Has she been a good first girl?" I asked.
"Yes," said Ephialtes, "but an even better camp slave."
"Do you like her?" I asked.
"I am used to having her about," he said. "She is useful, for example, slept at one's feet, to keep them warm on cold nights."
"I can imagine," I said. Liadne was a beauty. He shrugged.
"I had thought," I said, "you might have taken a fancy to her."
"She is only a slave," he said, evasively.
"Perhaps you would care to make an offer on her?"
"I was intending to speak to you about such a matter," he admitted.
Liadne looked up, startled.
"What do you think she is worth?" I asked.
Liadne, on her belly, looked at us, hanging on every word. "I am prepared to offer you ten silver tarsks," he said.
"Oh, Master," wept Liadne. "I am not worth so much!"
"I am well aware of that," said Ephialtes, irritably. Liadne, even though a beauty, in the current markets, in this area, where most women were being wholesaled in lots, would probably not have brought more than a silver tarsk or two. Most women were being sold for copper tarsks, some even for a few tarsk bits.
Vagabonds

50 copper tarn disks for male slave to row a merchant ship
"What do you for that slave?" asked a captain, a tall man with a small, carefully trimmed beard.
"Fifty copper tarn disks," said the slave master.
"It is too much," said the captain.
I agreed, but it did not seem up to me to enter into the question.
"That is the price," said the slave master.
"Very well," said the captain gesturing to a scribe near him with a wallet of coins slung over his shoulder, to pay the slave master.
Raiders

Two steel knives, 50 steel arrow heads, and a stone of hard candies for male slave
"They fell upon me in my sleep," he said. "I wakened to a knife at my throat. I was chained. They much sported with me. When they wearied of me, I was taken, leashed and manacles, to a lonely beach, at the edge of Thassa, bordering on the western edge of the forests."
"It is a well-known rendezvous point," said Samos. "It was there one of my ships picked him up, and others." He looked at the man. "Do you recall your price?"
"Two steel knives," said the man, "and fifty steel arrow points."
"And a stone of hard candies, from the kitchens of Ar," said Samos.
Hunters

15 high slaves traded for a tharlarion and wagon
Tharlarion, and such transportation, were now said to be worth their weight in gold. I had heard that certain rich men had exchanged as many as fifteen high slaves, choice “flowers” from their pleasure gardens, trained even to Curulean quality, for a single tharlarion and wagon.
Magicians

Bought for 10 gold pieces, sold for 15
"What is her price?" I asked Samos.
"I paid ten pieces of gold for her," said Samos.
She seemed startled that she had sold for so small a sum. Yet, for a girl, late in the season, high on the coast of Thassa, it was a marvelous price. Doubtless she had obtained it only because she was so beautiful. Yet, to be sure, it was less than she would have brought if expertly displayed on the block in Turia or Ar, or Ko-ro-ba, or Tharna, or Port Kar.
"I will give you fifteen," I said.
"Very well," said Samos.

Marauders

"I should have brought a thousand of gold," she said. "As daughter of Marlenus of Ar my companion price might be a thousand tarns, five thousand tharlarion!"
"You are no longer the daughter of Marlenus of Ar," I told her.
Marauders

Poor quality earth girl bought for 4 silver tarsks
I looked down at the girl. She was terrified, miserable. "Tell her," said Samos, "to watch a true woman, and learn to be female." He indicated the Gorean dancer.
The girl had not been long on Gor. Samos had purchased her for four silver tarsks on Teletus, with many others, for various amounts. This was the first time out of the pens for her in his house. She wore her brand on the left thigh. A simple band of iron had been hammered about her neck by one of the metal workers in the employ of Samos. She was poor stuff, not fit for a lock collar.
Tribesmen

Raw untrained slave appraised at 15 - 22 silver tarsks
"Blond," said he, "apparently determined to try to remain frigid, blue-eyed, not yet tamed, an incredible potential for helpless sexual heat, an incredible potential for helpless slave submission, excellent. Do you wish to sell her?"
"Straighten your body Slave," I told her.
Frightened, Miss Blake-Alien straightened her back, and lifted her head. She knelt back on her heels, knees wide, hands on her thighs. It was the position of the Pleasure Slave. I had taught her the position. It is one of the first things a good-looking woman, fallen slave, is taught on Gor.
"Do you wish to sell her?" again inquired the slave master of Tor.
I knew I would not obtain the best price from this office, for the municipal pens usually buy cheaply and sell cheaply. They exist primarily as a service for caravan masters, buying unsold girls, later retailing them to other merchants, who may be short of flesh for the oasis traffic. The municipal pens exist primarily to perform a service, not to make profit.
"What would you offer?" I asked.
"Eleven silver tarsks," he said.
I knew I could get twice that much from a private house.
"Fifteen?" he inquired.
"No," I smiled, "but your bids are reassuring."
Tribesmen

Usual prices was 2 or 3 (silver presumably?) tarsks at the above municipal office
The usual buying price of the municipal office was two or three tarsks per wench. I had learned that Miss Blake-Allen was valuable in the Tahari. This pleased me.
Tribesmen

More prices discussed at municipal slave office - bought for 2 tarsks, sold for 4 tarsks (again, silver?)
"She was bought for two tarsks, from a caravan master named Zad of the Oasis of Farad," he said.
"I am more interested," I said, "in who purchased her."
"She was sold for four tarsks," said the officer.
Tribesmen

A captain of Ar to pay 55 gold for captured, enslaved, FW
Village girls bought for 2 gold each, to be sold for more
His new girl, the Lady Rena of Lydius, would net him fifty-five gold pieces if she could be delivered in Ar to her captain from Tyros. And his hundred village girls, bought for only two gold pieces a girl, could well stand to make him rich, if they could be brought to Ar before the Love Feast. Targo was in a good mood.
Captive

5 gold for male slave (outlaw)
I drew forth a pouch of gold. I handed five pieces of gold to Samos, purchasing the man.
He stood before us, without his chains. He rubbed his wrists. He looked at me, wonderingly.
Hunters

4 gold for female slave
She was very beautiful in the bit of slave silk. I noted the bells locked on her left ankle. She was slender, dark-haired, dark-eyed. Her eyes were wide. She had exciting legs, well revealed by the slave-height of her brief silk.
"What do you want for her?" I asked Samos.
He shrugged. "Four pieces of gold," he said.
"I will buy her," I said. I placed four pieces of gild in Samos' hand.
Hunters

slave related costs

Copper a day to board a slave in Tor municipal slave pens
Training is extra
"I wish," I said, "to board her, and purchase her some training."
"We cage a wench for a copper tarsk per day," he said. "Training is extra, but, I think, reasonable."
Tribesmen

1 silver tarsk for bath girl rental
Other bath girls for rent for 10-15 copper tarsks, or even 1 copper tarsk
Beneath the toweling Nela wore nothing; about her neck, rather than a common slave collar, she like the other bath girls, wore a chain and plate. On her plate was the legend: I am Nela of the Capacian Baths. Pool of Blue Flowers. I cost one tarsk. Nela was an expensive girl, thought there were pools where the girls cost as much as a silver tarn disk. The tarsk is a silver coin, worth forty copper tarn disks. All the girls in the Pool of Blue Flowers cost the same, except novices in training who would go for ten or fifteen copper tarn disks. There were dozens of pools in the vast, spreading Capacian Baths. In some of the larger pools the girls went as cheaply as one copper tarn disk. For the fee one was entitled to use the girl as he wished for as long as he wished, his use of course, limited by the hours of the pool’s closing.
Assassin

Sexual use of slave girl in inn for quarter ahn - 3 copper
"Yes," I said. Her use had cost me a tarsk bit. Had I had a slave sent to my "space" it would have cost me three full copper tarsks, for only a quarter of an Ahn. I had had her for a full Ahn, for the tarsk bit. That was, because, at that time, she had been free.
Vagabonds

High paga slave possibly rented for use for a thousand gold pieces
"I will endeavor to be worthy of the tarsk bit, Master," she whispered.
"A Coin Girl," said the girl with the leash, "will struggle to please a man as much for a tarsk bit, as a high paga slave for a thousand gold pieces, to be paid by her master's customer for her use."
"I see," I said.
"The levels of skill in the Coin Girl, of course," said the girl with the leash, "are commonly much lower." This was true, of course.
Guardsman

Coins for dancing

Unknown coins tossed to dancing slaves feet
Her shoulders lifted and fell; her hands touched her breasts and shoulders; her head was back, and then again she glared at the men, angrily. Her arms were high, very high. Her hips moved, swaying. Then, the music suddenly silent, she was absolutely still. Her left hand was at her thigh; her right high above her head; her eyes were on her hip; frozen into a hip sway; then there was again a bright, clear flash of the finger cymbals, and the music began again, and again she moved, helpless on the pole. Men threw coins at her feet.
Tribesmen

Passage with tarnsman to Ar

1 silver tarsk
"There is a tarnsman in camp, Andar," he said, "who is leaving for Ar shortly. He is a greedy fellow. Doubtless he could be convinced, for a silver tarsk, to grant you passage." "My thanks, Tenalion," I said.
"In three days," he said, "you will be in Ar."
Fighting Slave

Passage on a river barge

One silver tarsk for a free person
One copper tarsk for animals (including slaves)
We sat there for several minutes, and then, eventually, we heard Targo haggling with a barge master for passage across the river.
...
The cost of transporting a free person across the Laurius was a silver tarsk. The cost of transporting an animal, however, was only a copper tarn disk.
Captive

Entertainers

A copper tarn disk for a Mountebank and a trained sleen
Later that afternoon there was an entertainment at the compound. A mountebank, with pointed hat, with a tuft on it, in silly robes, with his painted clown’s face, leading a strange animal, arrived at the compound. For a copper tarn disk he would give a performance at the compound.
Captive

Not sure what to call this

One gold given by initiates to family of young person to join pilgrimmage to Sardar
On her nineteenth birthday, members of the Caste of Initiates had appeared at the door of the leather worker’s hut.
It had been decided that she should now undertake the journey to the Sardar, which, according to the teachings of the Caste of Initiates, is enjoined on every Gorean by the Priest-Kings, an obligation which is to be fulfilled prior to their attaining their twenty-fifth year.
If a city does not see that her youth undertake this journey then, according to the teachings of the Initiates, misfortunes may befall the city.
It is one of the tasks of the Initiates to keep rolls, and determine that each youth, if capable, discharge this putative obligation to the mysterious Priest-Kings.
"I will go," had said Ute.
"Do you wish the piece of gold?" asked the chief of the delegation of Initiates, of the Leather Workers and his Companion.
"No," they had said.
"Yes," said Ute. "We will take it."
It is a custom of the Initiates of Teletus, and of certain other islands and cities, it the youth agrees to go to the Sardar when they request it, then his, or her, family or guardians, if they wish it, will receive one tarn disk of gold.
Ute knew that the leather worker, and his companion, could well use this piece of gold.
Captive

Travel costs

5 gold pieces for guarded passage from Port Kar to Ar
I drew forth five pieces of gold. "This money," said I to Samos, " is for safe passage for Ar, by guard and tarn, for this woman."
Talena drew about her face her veil, refastening it. "I shall have the monies returned to you," she said.
Marauders

Perfume

5 silver tarsks for signature perfume
"Her perfume was ready yesterday, he said. He went to one of the cabinets. From the sack he took the coins. They were five silver tarsks. He put them in a drawer. He wrote something on the note, and then he-put the note and the vial of perfume in the sack .I again put down my head and he put the sack, on its leather string, about my neck.
"Be careful with that perfume," he said. "It is expensive. It is a signature perfume'
Fighting Slave

Animals

Tarn sold for 4 gold disks
But when I descended the narrow gangplank of the dhow, which I took upstream from Kasra to the village port of Kurtzal, it was not as a tarnsman. The tarn I had sold in Kasra, for four golden tarn disks.
Tribesmen

Tarn 1 gold disk
A golden tarn disk was a small fortune. It would buy one of the great birds themselves, or as many as five slave girls.
Tarnsman

Bosk for a gold
“Boy!” cried the Forkbeard. The boy looked at him. The Forkbeard threw him a golden tarn disk. “Buy a bosk and sacrifice it,” said the Forkbeard. “Let there be much feasting on the farms of the Inlet of Green Cliffs!”
Marauders

Sleen pelt for a silver tarsk in Lydius
"Was there other news in Lydius?" asked Rim, pleasantly.
"The price for a good sleen pelt is now a silver tarsk," said Arn. Then he held out his cup again to Cara. "More wine," he said.
Hunters

Wages

Boys paid a copper tarsk for each customer brought to a cafe
There was a great shouting, and, passing through the market gate, I had turned into the nest of market streets.
I brushed away two sellers of apricots and spices. "Come with me to the cafe of Red Cages," said a boy, pulling at my sleeve. They receive a copper tarsk for each patron they bring through the arched portal of the cafe. I gave the boy a copper tarsk, and he sped from me.
Tribesmen

Sail maker earns 4 copper tarn disks per day
Shipwright earns as much as a gold tarn disk per day
The wages of a sail-maker, incidentally, are four copper tarn disks per day, those of a fine shipwright, hired by the Council of Captains, as much as a golden tarn disk per day.
Raiders

"Severance pay" of Bosks men is 2 pounds of gold
My men were mostly pirates and cutthroats. Doubtless many of them did not much care to ply an honest trade. Better, they would think, to lie in wait on the open sea for the slave galleys of Tyros or the treasure ships of Cos. But two who challenged me for the captaincy I slew within a dozen strokes, and the others, thus given pause, chose to confine their disgruntlement, if any, to their cups and conclaves. Any who did not wish to continue in my service were free to go. I instructed Luma to discharge any such with a gift of gold, of half a stone's weight.
Raiders

"Bonus" paid of 1 gold to each arsenal worker
1 silver tarsk to each citizen of the city
I had decreed that from my shares of the treasure, each worker in the arsenal would receive one gold piece, and each citizen of the city of a silver tarsk.
Raiders

Singer given a capful of gold in Port Kar
When again I sat down I said to the serving slaves, "Feast the singer well," and then I turned to Luma, slave and accountant of my house, braceleted and chained at the end of the long table, and said to her, "Tomorrow, the singer, before he is sent on his way, is to be given a cap of gold."
"Yes Master," said the girl.
"Thank you, Captain!" cried the singer.
My retainers cried out with pleasure at my generosity, many of them striking their left shoulders with their right fists in Gorean applause.
Raiders

More "bonuses" shared with men - double weight gold
"The gold, Captain," said one of my treasure guards.
I had arranged a surprise for my retainers on this night of feasting and victory.
He lifted, heavily, to the dais on which my chair and table sat a heavy leather sack filled with golden tarn disks of double weight, of Cos and Tyros, of Ar and Port Kar, even of distant Thentis and remote Turia, far to the south. He placed the sack beside my great chair. Few, saving those immediately near me, saw it there.
I reached drunkenly into the bag of gold beside my chair and grabbed up handfuls flinging them about the room. I stood and threw about me showers of the tarn disks of Ar, of Tyros, of Cos, Thentis, Turia and Port Kar! Men scrambled wildly laughing and fighting for the coins. Each was of double weight!
And ten, again, wildly, shouting, crying out, I threw gold to all the corners of the room, laughing as the men fought and leaped to seize it.
I drank and then threw more coins and more coins about the room.
There was laughter and delighted cries.
"Hail Bosk!" I heard. "Hail Bosk, Admiral of Port Kar!"
I threw more gold wildly about. I drank again, and again. "Yes," I cried. "Hail Bosk!"
Raiders

Musicians paid a silver tarsk each to play
I myself threw down, in one corner, near a slave ring, the Furs of Love.
The musicians, one by one, each with a silver tarsk, stole from the room.
Raiders

Gambling

Copper disks wagered on a game
The men, wagering, tossed us pieces of meat.
We caught them, in the firelight. A catch was two points. A piece which was dropped was fair game for any. We fought for the dropped pieces. The retrieval of such a piece was one point. Ute dropped a piece and Lana and I fought, each holding to a part of the fallen prize, rolling and tearing. I struggled back to my knees, tearing my head to one side. "Mine!" I cried, swallowing the meat, almost choking, laughing.
"Mine!" cried Lana, gorging the other half of the meat.
"Point for each," adjudicated one of the guards.
We were excited, and wanted to play further.
"We are weary," said one of the guards. We saw copper disks being exchanged.
Captive

“She is only a free woman,” I said. I put a copper bowl on the ground, beside her, at her left. “She is not trained. Only a tarsk bit,” It was the smallest, least significant Gorean coin, at least in common circulation.
Mercenaries

He had been very generous. 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 sued 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

Elizabeth, Virginia and Phyllis were permitted to attend the first day of the races, under, of course, suitable guard.
We met in Sura's training room and I, who was to be in charge of this expedition, given that I would let no other guard Elizabeth, was given a leather sack of silver and copper coins by Ho-Tu, for the expenses of the day.
Assassin



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