Stumper Sovereign
"...This is the only currency minted in the Hard Lands..."
As the Pit 'N' Swet started to make a lot of money, Stumper and the Krew started to learn how to count it.
The Ogres and Big Bossy Orcs realised that if they had fewer, but much bigger coins to count with, the whole process would be completed far more quickly, giving them more time for brewing their mead and beer and looking after their customers.
Stumper decided to get some much bigger coins made which they find much easier to handle and count and suit their taste for large gaudy ornaments and trinkets.
Manufacturing process
These coins are minted locally in the The Hard Lands by Dalad's jewellers in the workshops under Mount Mistrulir. They get produced in small batches and most of them are still in the possession of the Pit 'N' Swet Krew but some have been spent as far afield as Big City.
The process starts once the Krew have amassed enough small gold coins to get frustrated counting them. Usually over 250 or so is about their threshold for this. At that point Stumper will delegate one of the Big Bossy Orcs to "Get sum more of dem 'biguns' made".
Responsibility for getting a new batch of coins minted usually falls to Froaty Koff who is the most reliable of the Big Bossy Orcs but none of the Ogres or Orcs get on very well with Dalad's Jewellers, having had several falling outs over the years.
It means the delegation has to be accompanied by GRiNdaL who has struck up an unlikely friendship with Dalad.
Froaty takes a bunch of the The Pit 'N' Swet Krew as well as GRiNdaL and a few Goblins, along with a big sack of coins and leads the expedition to Mount Mistrulir . When they get close enough he sets up a camp and sends GRiNdaL and the goblins the last stretch to speak to Dalad and get the coins made.
Dalad and his Jewellers melt the gold coins and cast them into discs before stamping them with the bespoke dies which have been designed and made specially for minting the coins.
Only one set of dies exists and they are kept under armed guard in the treasury at Mount Mistrulir. Dalad has far too much integrity to let anyone else use the dies to make counterfeit coins.
Even though he doesn't get on very well with the Ogres and Orcs, he would never use his own gold to make the coins to sell to unscrupulous collectors.
Manufacturing fee
Dalad is a Master Craftsman and doesn't mint the coins for free. He charges a bottle of Mead for each Stumper Sovereign he mints.
Significance
Much of the trade in this region is conducted via a barter system. This is the only currency minted in the Hard Lands.
The Stumper Sovereigns have become something of a novelty in Big City . A few of these coins have made their way up there and have been snapped up by collectors. They change hands for much more than the value of the base metal within the coins.
One would think the Ogres and Orcs would therefore seek to trade these coins and make a bit of extra cash, but they prefer to hang on to them to help make their adding up quicker, and have become a lot less inclined give them as change in the tavern to travellers they don't know very well, thus maintaining their rarity.
It is quite rare to find these coins in circulation. A few have been spent in the Big City and some coin collectors have been known to pay up to 100 gold pieces for an undamaged example.
These coins are made from pure gold with no substitute or additional alloys. Due to their purity and large size, they are the next best thing to bars of gold bullion.
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