The value of gold

Odd question. If I have 1 lb worth of gold coins (100 gold pieces) and melt it down, do i end up with a 1 lb gold bar worth 100 gold pieces.

https://legacy.aonprd.com/ultimateEquipment/gear/entertainmentAndTradeGoods .html

Possibly. 1lb of gold is worth 100gp, and 100gp weighs 1lb. So a gold coin's valur could be explained as it being solid gold.
On the other hand, if the setting explains that "gold" coins have a good deal of copper or something in them, then the value comes from the stamp or mark put on them when they're minted by whatever governing force does so.

I don't think there's much in the way of clarification one way or the other. A brief description of coinage, exchange rates and values is always one of the first things I include in any setting I make.

Oooh, a discussion of seigniorage!

Given that in Golarion, the currency is named copper, silver and gold coins, I think it is correct to assume those coins are made of the metal they are named after rather than an alloy.

However, I think it is mostly a meta-narrative method to do away with the cumbersome ways to maintain verisimilitude regarding indeed seignorage and exchange rates as well if the coins were not a pure metal.

Even like this, there is no fluctuation of the relative value of one metal relative to another and all sources of the metal are of the same quality, there is no red gold for example.

For a long time, I've been game master in a setting with several countries, each with its own currency, with two of them, far apart from each other, being commercial empires and each being the only country not accepting the currency of the other. I make sure to have this be flavour rather than tedious bookkeeping for my players.

Agreed. I'll give the coins different names for different areas, but that's about it. Working out real-world exchange rates does not a fun time make for me.

I've always viewed the terms Gold, Silver , Coper etc as being a universal "Currency" nomenclature. this way I can say "you find 1000 gold piece worth of coins" and it not necessarily be 1000 coins, it could be a mix of 1 gold, silver, copper, other metal, coins with various GP value (Campaign Coins makes coins of all kinds of various denominations)

so that 1000 GP could be a single coin, or it could be 100,000 coins, or any number in between. This somewhat solves the encumbrance problem of having to lug around a ton of coins.

did they change the weight of gold coins? I thought it was 50 to a pound? Least that is what my Masterwork tools says under currency (1/3 of an ounce per coin)

I use 50 coins to the pound and must have read it somewhere. I also use different currencies for different countries. Partly because the campaign I run starts with a number of borderland bandit raids. The coinage recovered by the players gives a clue that the raids are targeted at one nation and being funded by actors in another remote nation. The other major reason is it starts to enrich the campaign world. The two major city states nearby are rivals and so the exchange rates between the two are quite poor.

Coins

The standard coin weighs about a third of an ounce (50 to the pound).

Actually, what prompted this question was good old Auroras Whole Realms Catalog, that classic booklet from 1992. On page 60, it informs that a 1 lb gold bar costs 11 gps, and ingot (3 lbs) costs 29 gps etc. It made me think about if someone melted down gold coins with a face value of 50 gold, would they end up with 50 gold value of gold, or less. Just made me think...

It made me think about if someone melted down gold coins with a face value of 50 gold, would they end up with 50 gold value of gold, or less. Just made me think...

Historically (real world) you would almost always have less. As soon as the bullion value of a coin exceeded the par value, the smart people would immediately melt it down. If gold coins exist, it’s because it’s not worth melting them. There were almost always laws against this but it was impossible to prove that a gold bar used to be gold coins.

Related historical tidbits: filing down gold coins (to melt down the shavings for bullion) was also illegal, and is the reason why textured edges on coins were developed. Also: there were plenty of times when a country’s mint changed the size or gold purity of a coin without changing the face value. Even though a 1620 coin and a 1670 coin were theoretically worth the same amount, merchants would in practice treat the ones with higher gold content as being worth more.

There is way more to it than that, including very deep dives into how identical gold content coins of two countries with different economic and political situations could have vastly different values. Pathfinder (and other games) greatly simplify by assuming the entire worth of a coin is in its gold content.

@Belafon, should you wish to develop on some of those aspects, you would at least have one avid and interested reader.

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if you review the historical data ancient coinage was rarely 100% of a singular precious metal. This is due to several factors; refining, smelting, striking coins and blanks on a die, durability of the die & coin, along with the (very important) seigniorage. The romans are a fine example.

They didn't have chemistry or refined glacial acids, mass spectrometers, or even the density of gold or heat expansion coefficient. Magic (being conceptual) doesn't do any better as if it looks gold it is gold...
Kiln(or crucible) temperature is another limiting factor. You can almost use this to define levels of technology.

I'd assume the coinage of an 'honest' country is about 66.7-58% of the stated metal. 50% for those looking to make more through minting. Review bronzes, pewters, pinchbeck, etc. Any jewler will let you know 24 karat(99.5%) to 18 karat(75%) gold is too 'soft' to wear well and 14 to 12 karat(50%) is a better choice.
alloys using silver, copper, tin, zinc, antimony, lead, manganese, bismith, arsenic, nickel, iron...

Running into this issue for the 5lbs of silver to make holy water. Great news is that 250sp is a pure 5lbs of silver by the rules. Bad news is that APs give gp to adventurers.

Running into this issue for the 5lbs of silver to make holy water. Great news is that 250sp is a pure 5lbs of silver by the rules. Bad news is that APs give gp to adventurers.

no, you've assumed that.

If you are having trouble turning gp into sp or making holy water via sp then your GM has got lost in the weeds. There are a lot of other details to worry about. Just ask for the Craft(alchemy) DC to turn sp into silver powder, make your check and carry on. If it is still an issue, stop the adventure declaring you need to go into town to a currency exchange or alchemy shop. The PCs will be back once that has happened. If you're the GM just take the gp value and assume it is comprised of roughly (by value) 50%pp, 46%gp, 3.9%sp, and 0.1%cp (which weighs the same as 100%gp) or various jems & jewelry. There's a 50% loss in selling gear so gp is a "treasure bundle" that is 100% reward.

"How much do you want for that one-pound bag of powdered diamond?"

"Twenty-five thousand gold pieces."

"Great, I can cast Miracle!"

"Sorry, I misspoke. It's one hundred and twenty-five thousand gold pieces."

"Great, I can cast Miracle five times!"

"How much do you want for that one-pound bag of powdered diamond?"

"Twenty-five thousand gold pieces."

"Great, I can cast Miracle!"

"Sorry, I misspoke. It's one hundred and twenty-five thousand gold pieces."

"Great, I can cast Miracle five times!"

yes, that would take a miracle or two.

yes, that would take a miracle or two.

Don't rush me, sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.