Greetings all!
I just found this forum and this thread. The issue of currency in Tolkien's world has been important to me for some time. My site is easy to find at Shirepost dot com if you wish to do so... but I thought maybe I'd just introduce how and why I bothered to create this currency in the first place.
I've always been interested in coins and stamps. My family raveled a lot when I was young, and I would always have to stop at a post office and bank to obtain all the different items from each country. I became further interested in the hobby of "postal history" which focuses more on the postmarks than the stamps themselves. When I started reading Tolkien I started with THE HOBBIT, and there in the first chapter we find Bilbo sitting on his stoop reading his morning letters. Well... to a postal history collector, this is a tantalizing phrase. The term "morning letters", implies that there must be afternoon letters also... suggesting a very sophisticated postal system and all that goes with it. Not only does it suggest that there would be stamps and postmarks and various markings... but that there would be an organized denominational monetary system and a system of weights and measures as well. So you see, in that one phrase at the very beginning of the book, Tolkien establishes a very organized administration to THE SHIRE.
In 1987 I made my first Shire Post postage stamps, and established a system of money and measures. I decided to establish our "current" year in The Shire at Gregorian-minus-600 (1987-600=Shire Reckoning 1387 etc.)
The next step was the creation of a Shire Map, to show ALL the towns and roads in the district. Finally I made postmark devices for all those towns, and and set up a system whereby people would adopt a Hobbit personna, complete with an address, and thereby be able to send mail to each other... mail which would arrive bearing Shire Post stamps and postmarks... as authentically created as possible.
Of course, by now you realize this has become something of an obsession...
Well... it's obvious that in this quest to make the fantasy become more real and tangible that coins would be next. Over the years I yearned to create these coins, and while I was already an expert in various metal-working techniques, I had never worked with presses or anything of that sort. Then finally in 2001 an antique 40 tonne manual coining press virtually fell into my lap, and I became completely obsessed with the whole coining thing and virtually a collector of antique coining equip-ment. There are seven antique presses here now... from a small 5 ton capacity screw press up to a monster 150 ton knuckle press. At the moment I've now done coins for various realms within the MIddle Earth mythos, as well as King Arthur, Leif Ericsson, and Kayless the Magnificent. And more are coming. The 1404 and 1405 Shire series will involve a re-working of the denominational system to coordinate with the Gondoran Castar and Tharni.
Anyway... thought perhaps there might be a few that would enjoy hearing about how that all happened.
Be well!
... the thing that still gives me fits is mithril... I have searched for the real-world analog of the mythical metal, but there is nothing that fits all the criteria... it's just not on the periodic table anywhere! Titanium is not bad... light and strong... but it is rather difficult to work with, almost too strong. I have focused primarily on Niobium as it is fairly strong, relatively ductile, has an exceptionally high melting point, and keeps its tensile strength way up above 2000 degrees f so that it would make great dragon armor (aerospace engineers use it to line rocket nozzles). When describing it Tolkien says that "... the dwarves could make of it a metal..." suggesting that pure mithril might be a minor consituent in a proprietary alloy. In fact, Niobium is used to alloy high-strength steel... an addition of only 1% Nb can increase tensile strength 20% or more. Niobium is reasonably available, though at $140/lb it's right in there with silver on price. It cannot be melted by any ordinary means, neither can it be soldered or welded, so all fabrication must be done cold.
So anyway, while neither is the perfect stand-in... I'm currently using one or the other of titanium or niobium as what I call "Mythril" or "Mythrillium"... the mythical metal.
Next in line for tolkienistic metals is the black metal "Galvorn" used by the dark elf Eol. (Silmarillion now). For this one I think Tantalum is ideal. It's a little hard to find, and shares some of the fabricational difficulties of the others mentioned... but it's heavy (16g/cc) and dark grey in color, ductile, and with a very high melting point.
And... all three of the above metals are considered "reactive" meaning that they can be anodized to reveal rather startlingly brilliant surface colors.
Be well!
Originally posted by Will Whitfoot
Next in line for tolkienistic metals is the black metal "Galvorn" used by the dark elf Eol. (Silmarillion now). For this one I think Tantalum is ideal. It's a little hard to find, and shares some of the fabricational difficulties of the others mentioned... but it's heavy (16g/cc) and dark grey in color, ductile, and with a very high melting point.
EDIT hideing_behind_computer mixed something up there 😮 I meant the metal Eol used for Anglachel and Anguirel... sowwie shybag has nothing to do with Galvorn 😐
But wait a moment, wasn't there one more artificial metal in the First Age or before? *tries to remember* 😑