Money

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Money, specifically minted coin money, was used in Middle-earth through the Third Age.

History

Money is chiefly mentioned in relation to the trading town of Bree. At the end of the Third Age, a pony was considered to be worth about four silver pennies. The well-to-do owner of the Prancing Pony, Barliman Butterbur, considered a loss of 30 silver pennies to be a considerable blow. A gold piece was regarded as a particularly extravagant reward for good news.

Azog threw a money purse at Nár containing "few coins of little worth" (which the Dwarves later stuffed in the mouth of Azog's decapitated head after his defeat).

Much of the gold and silver wealth of Dwarf-horde of Smaug, appears to have been minted. Bilbo Baggins took home two chests from the horde, one containing gold coins and the other silver coins, and as a result (in addition to his family's pre-existing wealth) lived very comfortably for the next 50 years and was considered quite rich. In addition to the Hobbits of Bree, the Hobbits of the Shire apparently dealt in coin money as well, otherwise they might not have been so eager to search Bag End after Bilbo left, looking for secret treasure rooms.

When Thorin describes Dragons to Bilbo as stealing gold and jewels from other races, he comments that "they hardly know a good bit of work from a bad, though they usually have a good notion of the current market value". This would seem to imply that there is some form of international "market"/exchange rate (albeit on a level akin to Medieval Europe) in Middle-earth.

Notes

In The Complete Guide to Middle-earth by Robert Foster, the entry for "Money" on page 344 makes it a point to say

"contrary to the claims of some, there are references to money in The Lord of the Rings'"

― The Complete Guide to Middle-earth - "Money"

The above phrase suggests that (in the early days of Tolkien fandom) there was some belief that coin money used as actual "currency" did not exist in Middle-earth; references to money are scarce, not highlighted and obviously forgettable among the narrative.

It was and partially related to how certain critics believed that Tolkien's rustic utopia of The Shire was espousing a specifically "Luddite" agenda.

See Also

• Mirian/Castar
• Canath/Tharni