Guild sliver

The Guild sliver is a coin in common use in the Eleven Cities which lie around the coasts of the Sea of Jars. It is a subunit of the Guild honour.

Description

Guild slivers are brass-leafed zinc coins 0.6 inches in diameter. They bear the scales of the Minters of Metal stamped on one side and, like the Guild honour, their batch number on the reverse. New batches are produced each year, typically in summer when firewood is cheap and the forging of large amounts of metal objects is therefore inexpensive.

History

Slivers precipitated out of institutional policy surrounding the Guild honours of which they serve as a subunit. Although the Guild honour rapidly caught on over the post-Wesmodian period as a method of international trade, the decision by the Minters to maintain the coin's value by limiting its supply rendered it far too valuable for people who simply needed coins to pay for their household provisioning. For several years, therefore, pre-Wesmodian Chogyan currency persisted in domestic use in several cities, gradually wearing and becoming less and less trustworthy. In some cities foreign coinage was surreptitiously imported and accepted while in Loros the infamous Grey bits emerged. To put a stop to this the Commercial Guilds tasked the Minters with the creation of a subunit for the Guild honour intended for the use of those not directly involved in international trade. The result was the Guild sliver, which entered use in 111 BWR. The current batch number is 195. 

Use

There are, by strict convention, a dozen slivers to the Guild honour. This creates a monetary system where change can be given for a Guild honour, though the buying power of the larger coin is such that most domestic shoppers have only occasional use for it. Unless one is directly working with the Commercial Guilds or engaged in fairly lucrative work, it is highly likely that one's daily pay in Chogyos, Ramoros or Loros will be given in slivers.
The brass leaf on the zinc core of the sliver creates a straghtforward safegaurd against clipping by making any such debasement immediately obvious. It does, however, create a substantial attrition rate as the soft brass rubs off quickly. In practice slivers have an operational life of no more than a decade or so. As such coins from batches earlier than about 160 are rare and can fetch considerable prices among collectors.