Why so big gold/silver rate in Westeros?

[Jaak]

Well, any underlying reason?

It looks like 28...29. The historic values, before declaration of gold standard at the end of 19th century, were in the range of 14...16, and even less - early Middle Ages it had been 9. China and Japan also had lower values before 19th century.

Also, that 676 kg gold of Sandor still looks inconvenient to haul around by packhorse.

[UnCatamaran]

... what?

[Ser Render]

... what?

[Knight Of Winter]

I assume you are talking about how many silver pieces (stags) is one gold piece (dragon) worth. Have any proof from the books that the rate is 28/29 ?

[Señor de la Tormenta]

It should depend of just how easy is to mine silver and gold in planetos. Of course gold has a bigger value but there is no way to find out a relation...we also do not know the size of the coins and the weight of a dragon or a stag and even if they are mixed and how mutch with lower metals.

Perhaps you can find some random item being bought twice in the five books, being paid once in dragons and once in stags, and you can bild up a relation from there.

[Frozentree]

According to the wiki (which in turn uses the RPG book as its source), it is even more

[The Dornishman's Wife]

In any case, the exchange rate between dragons and stags doesn't tell us anything about the relative worth of gold and silver as long as we don't know the relative weight. If dragons are a good deal heavier, of course the exchange rate should be more extreme than the one between the substances gold and silver.

[Señor de la Tormenta]

According to the wiki (which in turn uses the RPG book as its source), it is even more

Its to mutch. It didnt feel like jaime gave brianne a bag of 1 dollar bills and then one of 200 bills. Also when she was bribing no remember who she jumped from stags to dragons, but not in a way like now Im giving you 210 times what I gave you before

[Jaak]

We know the exchange ratio between dragons and stags (210).

We know the weight of a stag because this was revealed when stags were issued into circulation on Earth. 2,3 g. Meaning a dragon is worth 483 g silver.

And now we also know the weight of a dragon, also because it is about to be circulated on Earth. 16,9 g. Meaning gold/silver ratio of about 28,6.

[Crowford]

It's pretty meaningless in any case. Martin follows the reasoning that gold is more valuable than silver, since this is what everyone is familiar with, but since both have only few practical applications (and many of those in technologies that don't exist in ASoIaF), it might as well be reversed. It depends on how much gold and silver can be found in known deposits, and how easy it is to mine. It's an arbitrary bartering tool.

If you really want to finde out how much a stag or dragon is "worth", you have to look at it from a different perspective - what can you buy with it, and what work is required to earn it?

It might be that the high rate is because a dragon is much heavier than a stag, but they might also be the same weight and silver is just a lot more common in Westeros.

[Rhymes with Weak]

It's funny to think that most of the bullion used to make the coins comes solely from the Westerlands.

[Kienn]

We know the exchange ratio between dragons and stags (210).

We know the weight of a stag because this was revealed when stags were issued into circulation on Earth. 2,3 g. Meaning a dragon is worth 483 g silver.

And now we also know the weight of a dragon, also because it is about to be circulated on Earth. 16,9 g. Meaning gold/silver ratio of about 28,6.

I don't recall getting a silver stag from my ATM.

[WildBlood]

There may have been some inconsistencies in the GRRM's use of dragons/stags for negotiating and payment purposes. But I got the feeling throughout the book that 1 dragon was a decent chunk of change and would go a long way for non Nobles in Westeros. So I think the wiki exchange is in line with the intent in the book. But as mentioned above, there were a couple inconsistencies.

[Jaak]

It's funny to think that most of the bullion used to make the coins comes solely from the Westerlands.

Possibly - but it then circulates some time. Even coins circulate for centuries - e. g. antoniani, included (in small amounts) in hoards all the time till 3rd century!

Is Westeros also a net exporter of gold and silver with respect to rest of the world (Essos, Summer Isles, Sothoryos)?

When ships sail to Qarth, Jade Sea, Yi Ti and Asshai and return with fabulos exotic goods, what do they bring there as a price? Trade goods from Westeros and Essos? Or precious metal from Westerlands as bullion or coins?

Ghiscari hills have abundant copper - but bronze no longer rules the world. It does not - but the moons are still made from copper. Is the copper for moons produced in Westeros and IIRC Iron Islands, or imported from Slaver´s Bay? If imported, would the disturbances caused by Daenerys cause an upset in the moon/stag exchange rate in Westeros?

[danm_999]

Umm, we're not even sure gold on Planetos is the same mineral as the gold we have on Earth. For example, Earth gold would not melt in a cookpot like it did when Viserys was 'crowned'.

So to begin using real world standards and weight for minted gold coins is....very unsafe footing.

[Groat]

Umm, we're not even sure gold on Planetos is the same mineral as the gold we have on Earth.

For example, Earth gold would not melt in a cookpot like it did when Viserys was 'crowned'.

Not only that, but gold is a very interesting metal. All gold that was naturally formed on Earth sunk to it's core because of the weight when the planet formed. The gold we have mined through out the years has mostly come from space on asteroids. Also, gold is seen as universally attractive, by both man and animals. If you go back in history to societies like ancient Egypt, gold was revered. It wasn't used as currency, but seemed to have an almost religious, or mystical quality to it. I think at this point in time there's no more gold left to be mined on Earth? Someone correct me if I'm wrong with that statement.

Anyways, I'm not sure how much thought Martin has given to gold, but it wouldn't suprise me to learn it's a similar, but different, metal on Planetos.

[Free Northman]

Not only that, but gold is a very interesting metal. All gold that was naturally formed on Earth sunk to it's core because of the weight when the planet formed. The gold we have mined through out the years has mostly come from space on asteroids. Also, gold is seen as universally attractive, by both man and animals. If you go back in history to societies like ancient Egypt, gold was revered. It wasn't used as currency, but seemed to have an almost religious, or mystical quality to it. I think at this point in time there's no more gold left to be mined on Earth? Someone correct me if I'm wrong with that statement.

Anyways, I'm not sure how much thought Martin has given to gold, but it wouldn't suprise me to learn it's a similar, but different, metal on Planetos.

There is more gold to be mined. It's just becoming more expensive to mine as many of the mines have to go deeper and deeper to get to it.

[Groat]

There is more gold to be mined. It's just becoming more expensive to mine as many of the mines have to go deeper and deeper to get to it.

I wasn't sure if there was more to be mined or not, but I had always heard there is a finite amount of gold, and once it's all mined, there's none left.

[Frozentree]

I think Planetos gold should be same as real gold. If it was a different metal, it should be given a different name. If GRRM really wanted to call it "gold", he should have specified it is something different (by some PoV commenting how is gold a green metal light enough to float on water). If it is something different than what it should be and it is not specified it something different, how can he be certain about anything? What if the cats in the story are monkeys with hippo heads?

[Don Roberto]

This goes with every other discussion comparing the world of ASOIAF with our own.

They are different, have different history and geography and the weather is fucked up and there's magic. It's only inspired in our middle ages, not supposed to be an alternate version of it.