this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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You guys are lugging around some hefty coins. Granted, I don't think there's any sort of back of napkins maths that can be done to make the DnD economy make sense, but it's a fun exercise anyhow.
Showing my work here, because I'm bad at math so someone should check me.
1lb = 453.59 grams
1 oz = 28.35 grams
1 troy oz = 31.1 grams
1 coin ≈ 9.26 grams (per the 2014 PHB: "A standard coin weighs about 1/3 of an ounce, so 50 coins weighs a pound." Those figures return a coin weight between 9.45 and 9.07 grams, which I averaged out to 9.26 grams)
Cost of pure gold per troy ounce IN JUNE 2014 (roughly corresponding to when 5e was released) ≈$1300. Therefore cost of pure gold per gram ≈ $41.80.
One pure gold coin then ≈ $387.07.
Of course, assuming coins in circulation are gold bullion is a big stretch. As part of The Great Debasement (which sounds like a helluva a party until you learn it's about monetary policy), King Henry VIII reduced the standard fineness of English currency from 23 karat (95.83% pure) to 22 karat (91.667% pure). This standard was further reduced when the United States Mint struck their gold dollar coin in 1849, when they dropped the fineness to 21.6 karat (90% pure).
Tangent regarding the size of gold coins mostly unrelated to DnD economics, but maybe interesting if you've already read this much. The Type 1 American Gold Dollar was only 12.7 mm in diameter, or half an inch. That's TINY, and one of the chief reasons people opposed the striking of a gold dollar at the time. For folks familiar with American currency, the dime is 17.91 mm in diameter, so you'd be hunting for a coin 2/3 the size of what is already an inconveniently small coin (imo). I didn't find a direct causal link cited between these points, but I assume part of the reason for lowering the fineness from 22 karat was to eke out a slightly bigger coin for the same monetary value. Here is a visual aid showing how tiny the Gold Dollar was in comparison:
Which brings us, finally, to DnD coinage. Let's assume 90% purity, with the remainder having a negligible monetary value. Decimating the value of my hypothetical pure gold coin, we arrive at a value of 1 GP ≈ $348.36.
Given one gold coin is what a skilled (but not exceptional) craftsman could expect to earn from a day's work, that seems relatively in line with expectations.
This took forever to write on my phone, so someone may have already hit these points, but it kept me amused during a slow day at work. Edit quickly to add that inflation from 2014 -> 2026 increases all values by roughly 1/3. In today's dollars then, 1 GP is about $463. Ish.