An Overhaul
So, Knuts, Sickles, Galleons. 29 Knuts to a Sickle, 17 Sickles to a Galleon. Accordingly:
1 Knut = 0.03448 Sickles = 0.0020284 Galleons
29 Knuts = 1 Sickle = 0.05882 Galleons
493 Knuts = 17 Sickles = 1 Galleon
That’s fucking dumb. If you couldn't tell, there's going to be more complaining in this overhaul. A lot of Harry Potter is meant to satire dumb things about Britain, it’s something that you only get if you’ve lived here which I (regretfully) have and currently do. The financial system is obviously supposed to be a satire of the pre-decimal system in the UK which was phased out by February 15th, 1971 (which means that yes we can have Golden-Era characters complain about the WW system, they would’ve been using the decimalized system since they could use money) but there’s a tiny problem with how the Enspored One, may she rest in piss, decided to satire it.
It was Base-12.
It also accounted for fractional coinage, unlike the WW system. A Farthing was a quarter of a penny, Half Penny was half a penny, then the Penny, then the Threepence, Sixpence, Shilling, Florin, Half Crown, Crown, Half Sovereign, Sovereign, and also the Pound Sterling. Do keep in mind, I’m not a historian and am not from the pre-decimal time period so how widely they were used might have been varied! Anyway:
Farthing – ¼ penny
Half Penny – ½ penny
Penny – 1 penny
Threepence – 3 pennies
Sixpence – ½ shilling
Shilling – 1 shilling (or 12 pennies)
Florin – 2 shillings
Half Crown – 2 shillings and a Sixpence
Crown – ¼ pound
Half Sovereign – 10 shillings (½ pound)
Sovereign – 20 shillings (1 pound)
As you can see, it’s easily divided into each other units. The reason? People tended to buy by the dozen, so it was easier to have it based on that. Eggs, for example. Say one egg was a pence, but you, as a country, like buying by the dozen, and don’t want to have twelve pence for the eggs. A shilling! Oh damn, that… something (I don’t know, go with it) costs two shillings and six pennies? But I’ve no pennies, and my last shillings were spent at the butchers. Oh, wait! I have my Half Crowns! It’s all very simple, really, it just seems complicated because we use decimal systems and have for a while now.
Problem is, WW currency is based on prime numbers. Which, by their very nature, cannot divide into each other. And also, those coins I mentioned with the pre-decimal system? Yeah, they had larger numbers as notes. Don’t have a ton of Pounds or Sovereigns, but want to buy something worth, say, 10 Pounds? Don’t want to carry two hundred shillings? 10 Pound note!
WW currency, though? Nope, just the three coins. Which, can I just say, vary wildly in size depending on how you define canon. For example, working on gold prices, a conversion rate the Enspored One, may she rest in piss, mentioned in 2001, and size calculations, Galleons are about the same size of a 50p coin (give or take a few millimeters.) GOF has the Galleon as the size of a hubcap! Do you know how big that is?? It’s a fucking hubcap!! You know, the thing on car wheels!!
Now, in that 2001 interview, the conversion rate was 1 Galleon = 5 Pound Sterling. Let’s have a look at some of the canon figures put through that conversion why don’t we? I’ll even give the time-adjusted USD price, as it would be when those prices are listed.
Sirius’ Bounty: 10,000 Galleons = 50,000 Pound Sterling = 61,896.57 USD
Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw: 700 Galleons = 3,500 Pound Sterling = 4,332.76 USD
Firebolt: 300 Galleons = 1,500 Pound Sterling = 1,856.90 USD
Mr. Weasley’s fine: 50 Galleons = 250 Pound Sterling = 309.48 USD
Advanced Potion Making: 9 Galleons = 45 Pound Sterling = 55.71 USD
Wand: 7 Galleons = 35 Pound Sterling = 43.33 USD
Oh, but that isn’t the only conversion rate we have! No, no, no. When Comic Relief had a whole fundraising thing with the “Quidditch Through the Ages” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” books, the check held by Daniel Radcliffe read the following:
421,699 Galleons, 3 Sickles, and 13 Knuts with the regular money being 2,100,062 Pound Sterling. Using that, let’s have a looksie.
Sirius’ Bounty: 10,000 Galleons = 49,799.99 Pound Sterling = 61,648.97 USD
Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw: 700 Galleons = 3,485.99 Pound Sterling = 4,315.42 USD
Firebolt: 300 Galleons = 1,493.99 Pound Sterling = 1,849.46 USD
Mr. Weasley’s fine: 50 Galleons = 248.99 Pound Sterling = 308.23 USD
Advanced Potion Making: 9 Galleons = 44.81 Pound Sterling = 55.47 USD
Wand: 7 Galleons = 34.85 Pound Sterling = 43.14 USD
Well, would you look at that? A modicum of consistency with numbers! I used converters, of course. I was an English gay, not a math gay.
Anyway, clearly none of this system works, so we’re throwing the whole thing out!
Now, do keep in mind, I’m no economist. But at least I have a functioning logic center. So, let’s get to it!
The main thing that pushes an economy, from my cursory understanding, is supply and demand. Also scarcity, or manufactured scarcity! And production costs, wages… a lot, actually. Back on topic, however, the magical world is, seemingly, a post-scarcity society. You need something? Just transfigure it out of something else! “But homo, isn’t transfiguration impermanent?” No, actually. Nothing in the books suggests that transfiguration’s impermanent.
Anyway, if they don’t need to buy things, what’s the deal with them having an economy? Well, Harry Potter magicians are… bad? Like, in Half Blood Prince, the Weasley Twins make Shield Hats and the Ministry buys five hundred of them because most of their staff can’t do a decent Shield Charm. Then there was Cho in Order of the Phoenix being incapable of a proper Stunner. Basically, they aren’t very good at magic.
Long story short, magicians kinda suck ass at most things so they buy it, then there are magical services that they pay for.
But that doesn’t explain the currency. That’s my main issue. You wanna know what could have been fun? The Enspored One, may she rest in piss, goes on and on about how seven is a magically powerful number, with nothing to show for it. What about the currency?
That’s right! Currency is Base-7! Still Knuts, Sickles, and Galleons, but now it’s:
1 Knut = 0.142857143 Sickles = 0.0714285714 Galleons
7 Knuts = 1 Sickle = 0.0714285714 Galleons
98 Knuts = 14 Sickles = 1 Galleons
Or thereabouts. Again, I was an English Gay, not a Math Gay. Anyway, the whole Base-7 thing isn’t just to make 7 actually seem important/relevant. It also ties into the worldbuilding! Basically, ISoS was religiously based, yada-yada, Christian Wizards, yada-yada, 7 days of creation. If you want you can also think of it as, like, a Pellar’s Dozen. Not the intention, but still fun! There are also some higher denominations, but those are only used for, like, pricy-pricy stuff, the sorts of things the Malfoys would buy. They’re the Caravel, the Barque, and the Galleass. I’m going down the ship route, seeing as a Galleon was a type of ship. In order it would be:
Knut (7 to the Sickle)
Sickle (14 to the Galleon)
Galleon (14 to the Caravel)
Caravel (14 to the Barque)
Barque (21 to the Galleass)
Galleass
I’m not going to be making up a whole price comparison table, mostly because I’m not fully insane at the current time. Suffice it to say, I’m keeping some prices the same, for congruency’s sake, and some are changing. For example, wands are staying at 7 Galleons, while things like the Advanced Potion-Making textbook will not be at 9 Galleons.
Anyway, that’s the long and short of the changes.