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Do we have an idea of the value of coin/wealth throughout Westeros?


Alex13

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I am curious to know the value of coin in Westeros and what sum would qualify you as wealthy and what you might be able to buy the coin and how much you would need.

From what i know/remember, the prize for the winner of the Hand's Toruney, through be Robert in Ned's honor, was 40.000 gold dragons, which from what i remember was viewed as a large sum, especially for a tourney.

Also, from what i know, dragon eggs and valyrian steel are also very valuable. If you were to sell a dragon egg or a valyrian steel sword, how much money could you get? I seem to recall, that a dragon egg could be sold for several hundred thousand gold dragons , possibly even a million. Though i don't remember where i read that, so it might not be true. 

What could you do and buy with that coin? If you were a newly appointed landed knight/lord, could you use that coin to build a decent keep/castle or would it be to little? And do we know if that kind of coin could be use to re-construct/reinforce (even partially) keeps/castles like Queenscrown, Moat Cailin, Harrenhal, Oldstones etc.?

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It's impossible to know, Anguy wins ten thousand golden dragons in the Hand's tourney and he spends them all drinking, whoreing and eating, so it must not be a lot.

We know how much whores coast. Rosey's maidenhead coasts one dragon. But Anguys spends his money on premium whores, so let's be generous and say 5 dragons each a night, as there where 3 prostitutes, 15 golden dragons. Let's triple that for them staying with him all day, so 45 golden dragons.

He also drinks premium Arbor wine, which I would put at 1 dragon a cup, or 5 dragons the bottle. Let's say he's drinking like a maniac, so he'd be drinking 5 bottles a day, he buys a bottle for each girl too and maybe he's got a couple of friends who match him drinking, that would be 18 bottles or 90 golden dragons.

He's also eating quite well, let's say a fancy meal for one is ten golden dragons, and he's buying all his companions food too, thrice a day, that would be 180 golden dragons (I like how the numbers keep doubling but it's not intentional)

He's also staying in an inn, let's say that it's a fancy inn and price it at five dragons times three rooms. So 15 dragons.

That would make a total of 330 golden dragons a day. So he would need a month to spend it all. And we know he doesn't have that much as he leaves with Berric a few chapters later.

 

Also if ten thousand golden dragons is little enough to be spent after a few weeks of party, the crown's debt of six million dragons shouldn't be that important.

 

Also, in 209 buys a whole armor set for four dragons, either that's some heavy inflation or a major discrepancy

 

But if we use Rosey as a metric I would say that one golden dragon would be around a thousand dollars as, according to my Google search, that is about the price of a premium hooker. That also lines up with the ransoms (100 thousand dollars for a noble's son seems fine, a million dollars for Jaime as well) and having a six billion dollar debt is pretty notable. But having forty million dollar prices in tourneys is excesive even for Robert, so using them as metric would give something closer to a 100 dollars per gold dragon, maybe 250, but that seems to low to charge for armor, Rosey or a horse.

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From The Hedge Knight novel:

"The lamb was as good as any he had ever eaten, and the duck was even better, cooked with cherries and lemons and not near as greasy as most. The innkeep brought buttered pease as well, and oaten bread still hot from her oven. This is what it means to be a knight, he told himself as he sucked the last bit of meat off the bone. Good food, and ale whenever I want it, and no one to clout me in the head. He had a second tankard of ale with the meal, a third to wash it down, and a fourth because there was no one to tell him he couldn't, and when he was done he paid the woman with a silver stag and still got back a fistful of coppers."

 

He bought a big meal and four tankards of ale, and all of that costed less than one silver stag.

There are copper pennies, silver stags, and golden dragons. 100 pennies - 1 stag, 100 stags - 1 dragon.

 

"If it's not too rusted, I'll take it and armor you for six hundred." Dunk could beseech Pate to give him the armor on trust, but he knew what sort of answer that request would likely get. He had traveled with the old man long enough to learn that merchants were notoriously mistrustful of hedge knights, some of whom were little better than robbers. "I'll give you two silvers now, and the armor and the rest of the coin on the morrow." The armorer studied him a moment. "Two silvers buys you a day. After that, I sell me work to the next man." "

Six hundred coppers is equal to six silver stags.

""I need armor for the tourney,"" "How much?" "Eight hundred stags, for I'm feeling kindly." - price of used armor - 8 golden dragons.

Price of not very highbred but good horse - "Henly liked the look of Sweetfoot well enough until he heard Dunk wanted to sell her. Then all the stableman could see in her were faults. He offered three hundred silvers. Dunk said he must have three thousand. After much arguing and cursing, they settled at seven hundred fifty silver stags." - Horses are expensive.

750 silver stags - 3 golden dragons and 450 silver stags - "He could live a year on this much money"

"The stableman gave him three gold pieces and the rest in silver. Dunk bit one of the gold coins and smiled. He had never tasted gold before, nor handled it. "Dragons," men called the coins, since they were stamped with the three-headed dragon of House Targaryen on one side. The other bore the likeness of the king. Two of the coins Henly gave him had King Daeron's face; the third was older, well worn, and showed a different man. His name was there under his head, but Dunk could not read the letters. Gold had been shaved off its edges too, he saw. He pointed this out to Henly, and loudly. The stableman grumbled, but handed over another few silvers and a fistful of coppers to make up the weight. Dunk handed a few of the coppers right back, and nodded at Sweetfoot. "That's for her," he said. "See that she has some Oats tonight. Aye, and an apple too."

With the shield on his arm and the sack of old armor slung over his shoulder, Dunk set out on foot through the sunny streets of Ashford town. The heft of all that coin in his pouch made him feel queer; almost giddy on one hand, and anxious on the other. The old man had never trusted him with more than a coin or two at a time. He could live a year on this much money."

From The Mystery Knight - a tent costed 1 silver stag - " "We have no coin for beds." "We have twenty-two pennies, three stars, one stag, and that old chipped garnet, ser." Dunk scratched at his ear. "I thought we had two silvers." "We did, until you bought the tent. Now we have the one." "

Cost of transportation by a ferry across the lake - "The last time he had crossed the lake, the ferry cost only a few coppers, but that had been six years ago, or maybe seven. Everything had grown more costly since then." " "Do you know how much he asks?" "Three pennies for each of you, and ten for your horses." ""Last time I came this way, it was only two pennies, and six for horses." - in six years the price of passage for a passenger rose from 2 pennies to 3, and for horses from 6 to 10. If approximate inflation in span of 6 years is 40-50%, then the yearly inflation is 6-8%. Events in The Hedge Knight and The Mystery Knight were happening in 209-211, and current events in the main series are happening in 298-300, 87-91 years after events in D&E novels, so the kind of meal that Dunk ate in 209, in 300 would cost 5-7 silver stags, and a yearly amount of provisions (that in 209 would have costed 750 silvers) in 300 would cost 4095-5460 silver stags, or 40-54 golden dragons <- this would have been a price of Dunk's horse in 300 (in 209 he sold it for 7,5 golden dragons). Used armor in 209 costed 8 golden dragons, in 300 it would have costed 43-58 dragons.

So yes 40 thousands golden dragons is a lot of money. For this amount of money in 300AC you can buy 1000 horses (though not anything fancy or highbreed), or a yearly food supply and lodging for 800 people, or to buy used armor for 650+ soldiers.

Though this amount of money wouldn't be enough to build or to buy a castle, even if it will be a small castle. But it will be enough to build or buy a moderately sized furnished house, to hire several servants and houseguards, and you will still have enough money to feed all of them and your family for dozens of years. So, for a knight or a small lord, that's a lot of money.

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18 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

It's impossible to know, Anguy wins ten thousand golden dragons in the Hand's tourney and he spends them all drinking, whoreing and eating, so it must not be a lot.

We know how much whores coast. Rosey's maidenhead coasts one dragon. But Anguys spends his money on premium whores, so let's be generous and say 5 dragons each a night, as there where 3 prostitutes, 15 golden dragons. Let's triple that for them staying with him all day, so 45 golden dragons.

He also drinks premium Arbor wine, which I would put at 1 dragon a cup, or 5 dragons the bottle. Let's say he's drinking like a maniac, so he'd be drinking 5 bottles a day, he buys a bottle for each girl too and maybe he's got a couple of friends who match him drinking, that would be 18 bottles or 90 golden dragons.

He's also eating quite well, let's say a fancy meal for one is ten golden dragons, and he's buying all his companions food too, thrice a day, that would be 180 golden dragons (I like how the numbers keep doubling but it's not intentional)

He's also staying in an inn, let's say that it's a fancy inn and price it at five dragons times three rooms. So 15 dragons.

That would make a total of 330 golden dragons a day. So he would need a month to spend it all. And we know he doesn't have that much as he leaves with Berric a few chapters later.

 

Also if ten thousand golden dragons is little enough to be spent after a few weeks of party, the crown's debt of six million dragons shouldn't be that important.

 

Also, in 209 buys a whole armor set for four dragons, either that's some heavy inflation or a major discrepancy

 

But if we use Rosey as a metric I would say that one golden dragon would be around a thousand dollars as, according to my Google search, that is about the price of a premium hooker. That also lines up with the ransoms (100 thousand dollars for a noble's son seems fine, a million dollars for Jaime as well) and having a six billion dollar debt is pretty notable. But having forty million dollar prices in tourneys is excesive even for Robert, so using them as metric would give something closer to a 100 dollars per gold dragon, maybe 250, but that seems to low to charge for armor, Rosey or a horse.

I think this is actually part of "early novel syndrome", where GRRM had no clue how much a gold coin is worth and thus treated is as US Dollar.

Just for comparison, Byzantine strategos (army general and head of a theme) was generally paid 5 - 10 lbs of gold, or 360 - 720 nomismata, a year. 10 000 gold dragons is thus 14 - 28 strategos' wages, or 140 lbs of gold. That is an insane amount of money. For comparison, a "modest" wage was 9 - 12 nomismata, while substinence minimum is some 3,75 nomismata (per person). 

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Whether 40 thousands dragons is a lot of money or not, I think it depends on who will be spending them and on what.

If whoever won those money in tournament would have spent them moderately like Dunk, eating good but not fancy food, not spending money on whores, wine and gambling, then 40.000 would have lasted for a lifetime, even Anguy's 10.000 would have.

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28 minutes ago, Megorova said:

Whether 40 thousands dragons is a lot of money or not, I think it depends on who will be spending them and on what.

If whoever won those money in tournament would have spent them moderately like Dunk, eating good but not fancy food, not spending money on whores, wine and gambling, then 40.000 would have lasted for a lifetime, even Anguy's 10.000 would have.

40 000 dragons is some 500 to 600 lbs of gold. For comparison, average peasant household owned land in value of 1 lbs of gold. That much land is enough to make someone a lord. A Man-at-arms would own land in value of 10 lbs of gold, so Dunk could buy himself enough land to raise 50 - 60 men-at-arms.

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AGOT, Ned III - " The queen raised her voice. "A hundred golden dragons to the man who brings me its skin!" "A costly pelt," Robert grumbled. "I want no part of this, woman. You can damn well buy your furs with Lannister gold." "

For a Queen to offer something like 100$ for a direwolf's pelt would have been too cheap. So one dragon is most likely more than 1$. I doubt that Robert would have minded if Cersei offered to pay 1.000$. Though if it was something closer to 10.000$, then Robert's reaction and his comment that Cersei will have to pay for it from her own money, seems reasonable. Thus, 100 dragons = 10.000$.

1 golden dragon = 100$.

1 silver stag = 1$.

1 copper penny = 1c.

Dunk's meal in 209 costed a bit less than 1stag-1$, in 300 it costed ~5-7$.

For example, burger at McDonald's costed 21c in 1960, 75c in 1996 (when GRRM wrote AGOT), 2,64$ in 2018. In the real world price of burgers in span of 58 years rose in 12,5 times, while in ASOIAF's world prices in span of 91 years rose 5-7 times. So they have lower level of inflation than in the real world. Thus everything there costs lower than it would have costed in the real world.

40.000 dragons ~ 4 million $.

Anguy's 10.000 is equal to 1 million $. And he spent that amount of money in less than one month.

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1 hour ago, Aldarion said:

I think this is actually part of "early novel syndrome", where GRRM had no clue how much a gold coin is worth and thus treated is as US Dollar.

Absolutely. But that makes it imposible to determine the worth of coin until he gives an actual estimation. Also, given that GRRM's father won ten thousand dollars on the lottery and spent them quickly in alcohol and gambling your "treated it as US Dollar" statement is way too correct hahha. 

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An interesting discussion. Thanks, Meg, for the analysis!

I'm not sure if it's fair to factor inflation into these prices. Inflation usually happens when the currency is made of paper, or some other material with no intrinsic value, and the government can make more whenever they want. Metals, especially gold, have an intrinsic value that tends not to change over time.

IRL ancient governments did sometimes inflate their currencies by shaving small amounts of metal off the coins. And we know from Dunk's story that this did sometimes happen in Westeros. But obviously, there's a limit to how far this can go.

I think George has acknowledged that there are some glitches in the time lines of various characters, making it difficult to figure out what happened when. There are probably also some inconsistencies in his descriptions of prices and money.  In particular, those big rewards for the Hand's Tourney seem out of line with the accounts (pardon the expression) of other prices and purchases.  Maybe we can come up with a more accurate picture of the Westerosi economy if we  throw out one or two cases that don't fit the overall pattern.

However, there are plenty of real-life examples of previously poor people who suddenly came into massive wealth, and ended up squandering it in a short time. Anguy was probably so drunk much of the time, it would have been easy for others to take his wealth by overcharging him, deceiving him, or just stealing coins while he was passed out.

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30 minutes ago, Megorova said:

1 golden dragon = 100$.

1 silver stag = 1$.

1 copper penny = 1c.

In the wiki it says that a golden dragon equals 210 silver stags, so if a dragon equals a hundred bucks, a stag would be less than 50 cents. But I think it's way more, as when Cat tipped the rowers in her trip to KL she tipped each a single silver stag and seemed to think that it was a generous tip, so it should be at least 5 dollars per stag. Also, when she found out the catspaw was paid ninety silver stags she said:

Quote

It's good to know my son's life was not sold cheaply,

 So I think a stag would need to be more than just five dollars, after all Bran is noble born, and so It's Cat, tho however you spin it that goes into direct conflict with a ransom for Petyr Frey being fair, bc that would be 200 times what was paid to murder Bran, the younger son of the Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell. 

 

I still think that our best chance with figuring this out lies with Rosey, and maybe with Brianne's ransom.

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1 hour ago, CamiloRP said:

But if we use Rosey as a metric I would say that one golden dragon would be around a thousand dollars as, according to my Google search, that is about the price of a premium hooker. That also lines up with the ransoms (100 thousand dollars for a noble's son seems fine, a million dollars for Jaime as well) and having a six billion dollar debt is pretty notable. But having forty million dollar prices in tourneys is excesive even for Robert, so using them as metric would give something closer to a 100 dollars per gold dragon, maybe 250, but that seems to low to charge for armor, Rosey or a horse.

Rosey is not a premium hooker. The kind of hooker that would have costed 1000$+ is Johanna Swann the Black Swan of Lys, or the Black Pearl of Braavos, or Saera Targaryen. Rosey's price as 100$ seems more reasonable. Ten thousands dollars as a ransom for a noble's son, and 100 thousands for Jaime seems reasonable, if we will keep in mind that GRRM was writing AGOT in 80s and 90s. The crown's debt of 600 millions $ would have been considered as a big enough by standards of 1990s. The Hand's tournament with prizes 4 and 1 million$ is also reasonable, based on prices in 90s.

In 209 Dunk sold his horse for 7,5 dragons, with their level of inflation (based on what he said in The Mystery Knight, 6-8% per year), that horse in 300 would have costed 40-54 dragons, in dollars that would be 750$ in 209 and 4000-5.400$ in 300. Seems a reasonable price.

Tyrion and Penny's starting price at a slave auction was 300 silvers. If silver coins in Essos are similar/equal to silver stags of 7K, then 300$ as a starting price for a pair of untrained ungifted slaves also seems reasonable. They were sold for 5000$. Jorah was sold for 300$. The price of horses is higher than the price of svales, which is also reasonable, because to raise a horse it costs money, while to catch and enslave someone will be less costly, or won't cost to a slaver nothing at all. To feed them for a few days between their capture and the sale wouldn't cost a lot, much lesser than to feed and train a horse for several years.

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14 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

In the wiki it says that a golden dragon equals 210 silver stags

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Currency#Values

"Specific values of each of the coins have not yet been mentioned in any of the canon works of A Song of Ice and Fire. The semi-canon A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying game by Green Ronin has placed the value of the coins as represented in the table".

That's according to a roleplaying game, which has nothing to do with GRRM and his writing.

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2 minutes ago, Megorova said:

Rosey is not a premium hooker.

It's her maidenhead what coasts a golden dragon. I decided to consider it a premium price because of it, and how difficult it seems for Pate to find that amount of money, 100 dollars isn't that much that she shouldn't already been deflowered.

 

3 minutes ago, Megorova said:

RTen thousands dollars as a ransom for a noble's son, and 100 thousands for Jaime seems reasonable, if we will keep in mind that GRRM was writing AGOT in 80s and 90s. The crown's debt of 600 millions $ would have been considered as a big enough by standards of 1990s.

 With this I agree, tho I think that the prices I suggested are logical too (less logical for the ransoms, but more so for the debt, maybe a step in between, like 500 dollars). But as you mentioned, Cersei offered 100 dragons for Nymeria, and Robert thought it too expensive, I think that it matches more with 1gd being 1000 dollars than it being 100.

 

Quote

The Hand's tournament with prizes 4 and 1 million$ is also reasonable, based on prices in 90s.

That still sounds way too expensive for me, but the HT prizes are the hardest thing to reconcile with this, anything more than a dragon being worth 10 dollars seems excessive to me.

 

Quote

In 209 Dunk sold his horse for 7,5 dragons

That's assuming a silver stag equals one tenth of a golden dragon, he got payed 750 silver stags (3 golden dragons and some silver stags) assuming he got payed in a logical way that would mean that a golden dragon would be between 190 and 250 silver stags (depending on weather the silver stag change was closer to make another full dragon or not). So let's say that he got 3,5 golden dragons, about half of your estimate.

Quote

that horse in 300 would have costed 40-54 dragons, in dollars that would be 750$ in 209 and 4000-5.400$ in 300. Seem a reasonable price.

so in here it would be 20-27gd in 300, 350$ in 209 and 2000-2700$ in 300 (if a dragon equals a hundred bucks) It's still reasonable tho.

 

Quote

Tyrion and Penny's starting price at a slave auction was 300 silvers. If silver coins in Essos are similar/equal to silver stags of 7K, then 300$ as a starting price for a pair of untrained ungifted slaves also seems reasonable.

With my adjusted estimate it would be about 150$ which seems cheap. Slaves where never cheap, either in our history or in ASOIAF. So i think that an Essossi silver is worht more than a westerosi one, like a lot more. Essos seems inspired by the Middle East, and in ancient times the middle east had some expensive silver currency (a silver talent is about 7 thousand dollars)

 

Quote

They were sold for 5000$. Jorah was sold for 300$. The price of horses is higher than the price of svales, which is also reasonable, because to raise a horse it costs money, while to catch and enslave someone will be less costly, or won't cost to a slaver nothing at all. To feed them for a few days between their capture and the sale wouldn't cost a lot, much lesser than to feed and train a horse for several years.

This I disagree with. Horses are easy to train and they are train in months, not years. Also to feed a horse is easier than to feed a human, also there's cloathing and other expenses, and again, slaves here never cheap, bu tI think we can chalk this up to monetary differences.

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3 minutes ago, Megorova said:

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Currency#Values

"Specific values of each of the coins have not yet been mentioned in any of the canon works of A Song of Ice and Fire. The semi-canon A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying game by Green Ronin has placed the value of the coins as represented in the table".

That's according to a roleplaying game, which has nothing to do with GRRM and his writing.

yep, my bad, I realized it after that post. But given Dunk's horse payment I still think it's a fair assumption and there's more evidence for it than for them to be 10 to 1.

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28 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

This I disagree with. Horses are easy to train and they are train in months, not years. Also to feed a horse is easier than to feed a human, also there's cloathing and other expenses, and again, slaves here never cheap, bu tI think we can chalk this up to monetary differences.

 

I don't really agree with the fact that horses are cheaper than a person. I agree that the training could be done in a matter of months, but good horses suited for war were hard and expensive to breed during the Middle Ages and were one of the status symbols of knights and lords, due to their expense, care and breeding. 

And from what i know, a horse will eat between 7 to 11 kilograms of food per day and drink 38 to 45 liters of water per day. And you have to be careful with them, as a broken leg means that the horse will need to be killed, while a slave with a broker leg will recover and be able to resume work and they also eat and drink less per day, then horse.

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3 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

That's assuming a silver stag equals one tenth of a golden dragon, he got payed 750 silver stags (3 golden dragons and some silver stags) assuming he got payed in a logical way that would mean that a golden dragon would be between 190 and 250 silver stags (depending on weather the silver stag change was closer to make another full dragon or not). So let's say that he got 3,5 golden dragons, about half of your estimate.

"The stableman gave him three gold pieces and the rest in silver" - The seller had only 3 golden coins, the rest of his money were in silver and copper, that's why only part of what he had to pay to Dunk he gave in dragons, and the rest he gave in whatever currency he had left.

10 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

That still sounds way too expensive for me, but the HT prizes are the hardest thing to reconcile with this,

It was explained in the books that Robert was very generous with those prizes.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Currency#Examples_of_currency_rates

Robert offered 20.000 to the runner-up in the joust in 298. In 212 at Whitewalls runner-up's prize money was 30 dragons. With yearly inflation of 6-8% in 298AC Whitewall's runner-up would have got 154-206 dragons. But that was a minor level tournament, not the Hand's Tournament hosted by a ridiculously generous King. Though Robert's generosity was selective, he was Ok with paying 90.000 dragons as a prize money for tournament, but was not OK with paying 1.000 for Nymeria's pelt. Because paying for Cersei's whims wouldn't have earned for him everyone's admiration and respect, unlike him giving a generous prize to tournament's champions. That gave him fame and favour. He was that kind of person, he wanted to be liked and admired, and was willing to pay for that a lot of money. So the prizes were a bit over the top.

For example this - "In 120 AC Lord Corlys Velaryon offered a reward of 10,000 gold dragons to any man who could lead him to Ser Qarl Correy, who had killed Corlys's heir, Laenor Velaryon, in a quarrel." and this "King Maegor I Targaryen, during his war against the Faith of the Seven, paid one golden dragon for the head of any unrepentant Warrior's Son, and a silver stag for the scalp of a Poor Fellow." That was in 46 AC, and Maegor brought with him two thousand skulls from his campaign against the Faith back to KL. He paid for them 2.000 dragons. Edmure offered 1.000 for capturing Jaime, when he escaped from Riverrun. The ferry passage in 212 costed 3 pennies per person, and 10 for a horse, so it seems to be a generous tip that Cat gave 1 silver stag to people that ferried her to Riverrun (the passage in 298 would have costed 15-20 pennies).

So it seems that only HT's prizes are a bit over the top, their prices for various goods and services are not high. Anguy just went on a spending binge, and got rid of his prize money ridiculously fast. If he wasn't such an idiot, then that amount of money could have lasted for a lifetime.

45 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

Horses are easy to train and they are train in months, not years.

Wrong. It's not easy to train a horse. Especially if it's a horse for riding in battles or jousts, not just for transportation/basic riding.

51 minutes ago, CamiloRP said:

Also to feed a horse is easier than to feed a human, also there's cloathing and other expenses

A slaver isn't required to provide clothes for his merchandise, he can sell them in whatever clothes they were, when they got captured. Their new master will provide them with everything. Also a slaver can afford not to feed his slaves for several days, because they won't die from hunger after several days of not eating. Though a horse, if it won't be fed twice per day, will be seriously misbehaving, and during the trading process that sort of behaviour will negatively influence its price. Trading in slave market requires from a slaver lesser expenses than to trade horses. First the horse needs to be either captured in the grasslands (if it's a wild horse) and then "domesticated", or born and raised at a stable, and then after several years of feeding and growing it, trained, and only then sold. A horse have to be 3-4 years old, when you can begin saddle break it, teach it to carry a rider. You can't just place a saddle on back of a baby-horse, and expect that you will ride on it just like that. Thus selling horses takes more time and more resources than to sell slaves. So it's reasonable that a well trained horse costs more than a slave.

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1 hour ago, Alex13 said:

I don't really agree with the fact that horses are cheaper than a person. I agree that the training could be done in a matter of months, but good horses suited for war were hard and expensive to breed during the Middle Ages and were one of the status symbols of knights and lords, due to their expense, care and breeding. 

And from what i know, a horse will eat between 7 to 11 kilograms of food per day and drink 38 to 45 liters of water per day. And you have to be careful with them, as a broken leg means that the horse will need to be killed, while a slave with a broker leg will recover and be able to resume work and they also eat and drink less per day, then horse.

But horse food is cheaper, it can even be free, as you can have them eat grass and drink from a lake or river. A slave was also a status symbols when they existed, and Dunk's horse wasn't that impressive.

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6 hours ago, Alex13 said:

I am curious to know the value of coin in Westeros and what sum would qualify you as wealthy and what you might be able to buy the coin and how much you would need.

From what i know/remember, the prize for the winner of the Hand's Toruney, through be Robert in Ned's honor, was 40.000 gold dragons, which from what i remember was viewed as a large sum, especially for a tourney.

Also, from what i know, dragon eggs and valyrian steel are also very valuable. If you were to sell a dragon egg or a valyrian steel sword, how much money could you get? I seem to recall, that a dragon egg could be sold for several hundred thousand gold dragons , possibly even a million. Though i don't remember where i read that, so it might not be true. 

What could you do and buy with that coin? If you were a newly appointed landed knight/lord, could you use that coin to build a decent keep/castle or would it be to little? And do we know if that kind of coin could be use to re-construct/reinforce (even partially) keeps/castles like Queenscrown, Moat Cailin, Harrenhal, Oldstones etc.?

The dragon eggs to which you refer to are collectors' items.  Like a Mona Lisa or priceless gems.  Thus, their value is for the purposes of acquiring something rare and akin to something like a diamond.  But a living dragon is on another scale altogether.  The value of a living dragon is beyond price, beyond the value of human lives, in my opinion.   

 

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10 minutes ago, Prince Rhaego's Soul said:

The dragon eggs to which you refer to are collectors' items.  Like a Mona Lisa or priceless gems.  Thus, their value is for the purposes of acquiring something rare and akin to something like a diamond.  But a living dragon is on another scale altogether.  The value of a living dragon is beyond price, beyond the value of human lives, in my opinion.   

 

I agree with the fact that dragon eggs are collectors' items and that is what i was referring to with the value of the eggs and valyrian steel.

And i agree that a living dragon is something else entirely and that you would not sell that, as having a dragon would give you the ultimate weapon of war in Planetos. 

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