: : It is probable that in the areas where the common language of Westron was known some form of standardised exchange rate was found based on a common system of weights - "The Numenorian Talent" if you like. So under normal conditions a quarter talent of silver would buy two chickens or five loaves whether you were in Pelargir or Hobbiton. Of course famine or local gluts would tend to introduce variations of this exchange rate over both distance and time. In this system a coinage would not be strictly necessary; though the merchant would have to carry a balance to weigh precious metal and have some rough method of checking purity. Plus for many transactions a straight barter would be possible.

: Thank you...
: I am trying to run a role playing game in ME and it is kinda tricky to bart for everything, every time you rest at an inn etc... I hope you see my problem... If I knew how common e.g silver is, I could create a monetary system that had some connection to ME, though I hate this "1 gold-piece = 10 silver-pieces"

I see your difficulty. In your situation I would have a look at the Roman or Byzantine coinage systems or that of any Mediaeval European state (Anglo-Saxon England had a very stable monetary system based on the silver penny) this would give you a guide to equivalents between silver coins of a certain weight and gold of a certain weight. A good indicator of value of coins or precious metal would be to look at a specialist book on the Late Roman Army - the soldiers were paid partly in cash and partly in rations, clothing etc. - the amounts of wheat etc. they received were given a cash-equivalent value.

Of course in pre-modern societies the worth of a coin was essentially entirely in the weight of the precious metal it contained. So a merchant would be equally happy to receive a coin or the equivalent weight in gold or silver as a nugget or ring or bracelet etc.

I would not have any copper coinage - copper not being intrisically valuable, it is only really found in very sophisticated societies where an arbitrary equivalent value to silver is universally accepted. In the same way that a hundred dollar bill is actually a worthless scrap of paper if the system which gives it a specious value is ignored. In silver-based coinage systems the coins were actually cut into halves, quarters or eighths to give "Small-change."

It would be good to give the coin denominations names in keeping with ME. Hobbits could have a Silver Argeleb - after on of the later Arnorian kings, as they would probably have used the last official Arnorian coinage as a model for their later coin issues.
Gondorian coins could be Crowns, Stars, etc. - just a thought.