How much is money worth?

[Tom Mazanec]

Any clue on what a copper bead will buy (a bag of candy?)...a silver ring (a fine suit?)...twenty gold rings (a typical house?). What are the denominations...copper beads to gold rings, for example?

[Brannick]

Well, having been very bored at work, I discovered the following:

In the strip at the begining of the Redcaps and royals story arc, Quintyn sends a telegram home, the clerk tells him it's "1 silver bead for 40 characters."

Quin's message, counting spaces and addess line is 133 characters and our beloved Questor requested a "Silver Ring's worth" So, assuming the spaces between the words and the address lines all count that's 3 1/3 beads to the ring.

You can find that strip here:

http://npc.comicgenesis.com/d/20050609.html

[Shyal_malkes]

it could be four beads to the ring and they merely paid him the change back.

[Deckard Canine]

Also consider that telegrams in our world would not charge strictly for each individual word. A one-word message cost the same as a ten-word message, but an eleventh word would cost extra. (I don't know how wide-reaching this system was, but I've seen it referenced in more than one place.)

[Agvulpine]

40 characters is their equivalent of 10 words.

But I think we're over analyzing things a bit.

[Capnregex]

Heh..
Money is a thing and without people is not worth anything.
What would a chest of gold be worth on a nuked planet? ( no people )

In a free market, if you exchange with another, you both get more value than you gave up, or you would not make the exchange.

If you can purchase a loaf of bread for a silver bead.
You value the bread more than the bead.
The baker values the bead more than the bread.
The price is exactly what you agree the value isn't.

[Deckard Canine]

I must be a little tired: I read "silver bread." Raccoons eat a lot of things, but...