Wizarding Currency

[Groo]

ok, L'il Monster wiped this thread off so i am putting it again

the cost of Harry's Firebolt isnt given anywhere. though it is "price on request" how much would it cost do you think?
How much do you think is the relation between muggle currency and galleons? in CoS, the Weasleys had only one galleon in their account. that is a lil TOO less aint it?
Also, as the money is actually stored in vaults in Gringotts,unlike our banks, does that mean noone gets any interest for their money?

and btw, why do the wizards need money when they have the Conjuring charm at their disposal? they can easily conjure food,clothes etc.. cant they? Voldemort has conjured a shield,DD has conjured sleeping bags,McGonagall has conjured lots of food in CoS so far...
My guess is that you can conjure only non-magical objects, but that still doesnt prevent anyone from conjuring stuff or even coins

[Aberforth]

Coins are probably too difficult to forge. They are stamped by the goblin that made them and probably have other distinguishing features that make them only manufacturable by goblins.

I would think that you would get interest at Gringotts. They employ people like Bill Weasley to raid burial sites to get more gold. That gold has to go somewhere, my guess is that some will go to Gringotts customers.

JKR has stated in an interview (CR) that she estimates the value of one Galleon to be "about five pounds," which works out to more or less US$7.33. In the introduction to both QA and FB, US$250-million is stated to be the equivelent of 34 million Galleons. That also works out to a value of £5 to the Galleon. (The price listed on the back of the books, however, is not correct, since US$3.99 would equal a little more than half of a British pound, or 8 sickles and 15 knuts. The book instead incorrectly lists US$3.99 as being equal to 14 sickles and 3 knuts. Unfortunately, CNN.com uses this incorrect value for their Knuts-to-dollars converter.)

This gives us approximate values as follows:

1 bronze Knut = £0.01
1 silver Sickle = £0.29 (about US$0.43)
1 Galleon = £5.00 (more or less US$7.33)

(HP Lexicon)

BAsic things like clothing, furniture etc might be reasonably easy to conjure. However, fine details may be more difficult. Or perhaps it is difficult magic and only the best DD, McGonagall etc can do it. McG conjures hard wooden chaisrs, DD nice comfy chairs.

I imagined a Firebolt would cost around 1000 Galleons.

[Groo]

hmm.. thats was informative thank you

but i am still adamant about my conjuring theory. you could conjure something first and chisel it finely with magic to make it better

[Evil Wizard Petting Zoo]

I think conjuring is probably really difficult so not everyone is that good at it. There might be some limitation on conjuring because its not fair for DD to be able to make an armchair for free and someone else has to go buy one. Another thing, I bet stealing would be easier too because all you have to do is say "accio" and it'll come to you while ur hiding behind a wall or something, but I put a lot higher standard of morals on the HP folks than I do our society. Also, money is the foundation of society and civilization, so any wizarding world would need some sort of fiat money or you would have rioting and city burnings.

Thanks for that conversion thing Aberforth. I guessed soooo right on the Galleons to Dollars thing, I knew it was about $7.

[Athena Appleton]

According to Rowling, conjuring is temporary, similar to leprechan gold. I don't remember where I read that, but I know I did.

Yeah, having less than one Galleon in their account seems like a major deal... and it is, they're broke, but think about it. They don't have a lot of day-to-day expenses, so that's how they're able to survive. In general, they use a lot of hand-me-downs of second-hand clothes and such. They grow their veggies and fruits and stuff in a garden (have you heard of a wizarding supermarket yet? )... they don't pay rent, electricity, gas for the house, car payment, gas for the nonexistant car, phone, cable... If you take away all those monthly bills us Muggles have to deal with, you can see that almost everything that Arthur does make can go to other things like school for the children, random wizarding equipment and stuff... I really can't figure out what they do spend money on, since my entire budget deals completely with all the stuff I listed earlier...

I never really thought about what the Muggle to Wizarding ratio is as far as money is concerned. Hermione's parents go to Gringott's to exchange Muggle money for wizarding money. That's about the only time I can think of. I wouldn't imagine it would be TOO terribly inflated (like, two thousand pounds equal a galleon or anything like that)... I mean, Colin and Dennis Creevey's father is a milkman... I wouldn't think he'd have a ton of cash, but he's apparently able to afford new robes and supplies for his kids (or else Malfoy or any other of the really sweet kids at school would have compared the second-hand, ratty robes to Ron's)...

[Alice I]

Well I can think of something that Molly asked Arthur to buy when they went to Diagon Alley in CoS. Floo powder. They were running low and needed to get more.

I would imagine that an ordinary house witch would need things like that magical mess remover stuff that is advertised regularly in wizard press. They purchace their sasuages from somewhere. I don't think Molly cases her own sasuages. Unless they have lots and lots of chickens then they probably buy staple items like eggs and milk.

If you think about the sheer amount of food that a family with seven children would go through; I find it very hard to believe that Molly and Arthur have the resources to grow/raise/and harvest all of it themselves.

I imagine that potion ingredients from the apothacary would be a regular need, and possably personal necessities. I mean we know wizards use soap for instance. Look at the prefects tub with about 100 different taps with all sorts of soap in them.

I imagine that Molly can and does make a lot of their clothing but she still needs material and supplies.
Well I can't think of anything else that they might need to buy right now.

There is a conversion from wizard gold to muggle money somewhere but I can't remember where I found it. If I come across it again I'll post it here.

[Athena Appleton]

Yeah, the whole question of where they get food, deoderant, makeup, material, undies, etc. drives me nuts. I finally had to just quit thinking about it.

[Ferrus]

Yeah, the whole question of where they get food, deoderant, makeup, material, undies, etc. drives me nuts. I finally had to just quit thinking about it.

Yeah, I gave myself a really wopping headache trying to figure that one out...

[Athena Appleton]

I refuse to let my mind believe that all wizardkind like a little fresh air around their privates, but I've never so far heard of a wizarding shop selling undies (but Glad Rags or whatever it's called sold socks, that's where Harry got Nobby's socks for Christmas... oy... undies that scream when they get too dirty... how embarrassing...

seriously, though, it's just hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that Arthur and Molly have managed to get everything they own without dealing with Muggles on a daily basis... that would mean, if they do use a butcher or a supermarket, there's a butcher or supermarket especially for wizards... oy...

[Alice I]

(but Glad Rags or whatever it's called sold socks, that's where Harry got Nobby's socks for Christmas...

Nobby is probably laughing just now. I think you ment Dobby

oy... undies that scream when they get too dirty... how embarrassing...

That is funny and actually not a bad idea. Can I use it?

[Groo]

Glad Rags or whatever it's called sold socks, that's where Harry got Nobby's socks for Christmas..

lol

... oy... undies that scream when they get too dirty... how embarrassing...

self-conscious undies??:grin:
maybe the screams Harry hears in his head are actually due to his undies

[TDM]

well, athena said that conjuring was only temporary? well, then, if you conjure food, and it disspears in your stomach, what good is that? and if you conjure up some clothes, and you're walking down the street, you're suddenly naked! agh! anyway, what i'm trying to say is, this stuff is too complicated for even JK Rowling to even figure out. (i'm suprised anyone discovered the dollar=galleon ratio).

[Athena Appleton]

my bad... Nobby's messing me up now... Nobby weirdo on HP forum (luv ya hon), Dobby house-elf in the books... okay... got it.

DM: the weird thing is, Rowling seems to have it all figured out... she has answers for all these questions!

[imc130d]

I found the relevant quote about conjuring from JKR... the full interview is here.

Q: It seems that the wizards and witches at Hogwarts are able to conjure up many things, such as food for the feasts, chairs and sleeping bags. . .if this is so, why does the wizarding world need money ? What are the limitations on the material objects you can conjure up ? It seems unnecessary that the Weasleys would be in such need of money. . . (Jan Campbell)
A: Very good question (well done, Jan!!). There is legislation about what you can conjure and what you can't. Something that you conjure out of thin air will not last. This is a rule I set down for myself early on. I love these logical questions!

I think that "Something" in the answer might have originally been "Some things", which would allow wiggle room about conjuring food, etc.

[Groo]

whoa, the question he asked was exactly what i asked! and nice post imc, it clears the matter up.