Currency

The people in the world of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire use varying types of currencies, which is often depends on their origin and culture.

Westeros

Seven Kingdoms

Coins are used in the Seven Kingdoms, the chief of which are the Gold dragons, Silver stags and Copper Stars and Pennies. Gold dragons used mostly by rich merchants and noble lords and ladies, while smallfolk tend to work in copper and silver stags and barter is common in rural areas among the smallfolk and up along the Wall.

The current currency was established shortly after the unification of the Seven Kingdoms following the by the War of Conquest, and was used through the whole Targaryen rule and Robert's Rebellion hasn’t debased it. The king's coinage is one of the most visible manifestations of royal authority, its minting of the coins, "exchange rate", etc is overseen by the Master of Coin.

Golden dragons, bear the face of the king in whose time they were minted in, as well as his name.^[2] During the rule of House Targaryen the other side bore the three headed Dragon on it's back.While the Silver Stags, are known for the stag they bear, they were in use during the time of the The Hedge Knight, eighty years before Robert Baratheon came to power. Copper pennies, usually bore the Seven-Pointed Star associated with the Faith of the Seven.

Specific values of each of the coins are not mentioned directly in the books and are based on a semi cannon source, the A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying game by Green Ronin. Their value in ascending order:

Copper Coins

Penny and Halfpenny.
Half Groat, 2 pennies.
Groat, 4 pennies.
Star, 8 pennies.

Silver Coins

Stag, 7 stars or 56 pennies
Moon, 49 stars or 392 pennies

Gold Coins

Dragons, 30 Moons, 210 Stags or 11,760 pennies.

The coins most commonly encountered are: Half-Pennies, Pennies, Stars, Stags and Dragons are the most common currency; rarely does anyone have the change on levels between.

Pre-Conquest currency, There are older coins still in use from before the War of Conquest. In A Feast for Crows we learn of the Gold coins of the Kingdom of the Reach, which where known as 'hands', they feature the hand-shaped sigil of House Gardener on one side and the face of a king on the other, with each coin roughly half the value of a golden dragon.^[3]^[4]

Iron Islands

The Ironborn of the Iron Islands follow the old ways, they can trade only what he has taken.

Beyond the Wall

The lands north of The Wall are harsh lands, the Free Folk inhabiting those lands usually barter for other goods amongst themselves based upon the needs of the parties involved. Free Folk have been known to trade with the Night's Watch rangers and smugglers from the Free Cities and perhaps Westeros as well, trading goods in the little coves on the eastern coast along the Shivering Sea. They take steel weapons and armor in return for furs, ivory, amber, and obsidian and have little use for coins.^[5]

Essos

Dothraki

The Dothraki, who control much of Essos mainland re said to "not believe in money". They do not engage in trade, instead they have a sort of honour system where they accept gifts and then give gifts in return, but they do so in their own time.

Slaver bay/Free cities

As their name implies, the city states of Slaver's Bay main trade are slaves. a practice derived more than five thousand years ago from the Ghiscari Empire and the Valyrian Freehold which succeeded it. Where slaves are bread and trained to preform every functions of every day life. Slaver's Bay and many of the Free cities economy is based on slave labor.

Essos major port cities are trade hubs connecting the east and west, with traders introducing various coinage. Known coins in use:

Honors, are gold coins which where used in Qarth and Volantis. They are no bigger then a seven kingdoms penny, bearing a crown on one face and death's head on the other.^[6]^[7] Gold Honors are used in Meereen.^[8]
In Lys, coins are oval in shape and have a naked woman stamped on them.^[9].
In Braavos there are square iron coins^[10].
Volantis economy is heavily reliant upon slave trade.

Additionally it can be said that Slaves are used as a form of currency in the Slaver's Bay and other cities.

Orders of magnitude

At the time of The Hedge Knight (209 AC) it was not unusual for a plain yet complete set of good steel armor with greaves, gorget and greathelm to cost 800 stags, roughly four dragons.
At the beginning of the novels, the Iron throne is more than six million dragons in debt,^[11] which represents a colossal sums. Approximately half of this debt was to House Lannister, the rest is to Mace Tyrell, the Iron Bank of Braavos, several Tyroshi trading cartels, and to the "church" of the Faith of the Seven. Subsequently, the Crown debt only increased with total of 900,674 gold dragon in debt to the Faith.
The Hands tournament reward was 40,000 dragons to the winner of the joust, 20,000 dragons to the second, 20,000 dragons to the winner of the melee, and 10,000 dragons to the winner of the archery competition.^[11]
A Lysene pirate prince with two dozen ships under his command might command 30,000 gold dragons a month for his service as a sellsail^[12]
1000 gold dragons are promised by Edmure Tully to whoever captures Jaime Lannister after his escape/release from captivity in Riverrun.
300 gold dragons represent a formidable ransom for a knight, even if he belongs to a large noble house.^[13] while 100 gold dragons represent a reasonable ransom for a younger son of a noble family^[14]
During the War of the Five Kings, prices soared in the capital, Six coppers for a melon, a silver stag for a bushel of corn, and a gold dragon for a side of beef or six skinny piglets are all shockingly high prices.^[15]

References and Notes

↑ So Speak martin, [Blackwoods-Brackens Feud and Coinage], August 13, 2003
↑ The Hedge Knight; page 477 of the original US Hardcover edition of Legends
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 7, Cersei II.
↑ A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime II.
↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.
↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 63, Daenerys V.
↑ A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion I
↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 2, Daenerys I.
↑ A Dance with Dragons, The Blind Girl
↑ A Dance with Dragons, The Blind Girl
↑ ^11.0 ^11.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 20, Eddard IV.
↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 10, Davos I.
↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 44, Jaime VI.
↑ A Storm of Swords, Epilogue.
↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 32, Tyrion IV.

[SSMCoinage-1] So Speak martin, [Blackwoods-Brackens Feud and Coinage], August 13, 2003

[2] The Hedge Knight; page 477 of the original US Hardcover edition of Legends

[Raffc7{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-3] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 7, Cersei II.

[Raffc16{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-4] A Feast for Crows, Chapter 16, Jaime II.

[Rasos54{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-5] A Storm of Swords, Chapter 54, Davos V.

[Racok63{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-6] A Clash of Kings, Chapter 63, Daenerys V.

[7] A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion I

[Radwd2{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-8] A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 2, Daenerys I.

[9] A Dance with Dragons, The Blind Girl

[10] A Dance with Dragons, The Blind Girl

[Ragot20{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-11] 11.0 ^11.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 20, Eddard IV.

[Racok10{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-12] A Clash of Kings, Chapter 10, Davos I.

[Rasos44{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-13] A Storm of Swords, Chapter 44, Jaime VI.

[Rasos81{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-14] A Storm of Swords, Epilogue.

[Rasos32{{{3}}}{{{4}}}-15] A Storm of Swords, Chapter 32, Tyrion IV.

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