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[Neoskel]

This would probably depend on woods getting different values, but it think it would be cool if there was the option for you to make glass or wooden coins in fortress mode, and allow entities to use glass or wooden coins.

Reason? Well, elves use metals for their coins. Seeing as they have no metal themselves, they must have traded for metals for their coins and hired some dwarf or human to mint the coins for them.

Which is really odd if the elf civilization is completely cut off from the other civs. So they should have an option to make coins out of the materials they have. It also seems pretty elfy to me.

Maybe to add value to the wood you could have various kinds of lacquer which can be made from some natural plant/tree products, which they can then treat the wood with. Which would make lacquered feathertree wood for instance. It should be a material type, so no masterfully lacquered wood of any type, kind of like smelting. It could also presumably add strength to wooden weapons and armor. Lacquering should be unique to elves (and modded races of course), since no one else really needs it.

And the reason for glass coins?  Cuz it would just be awesome for a modded in desert volcano civ (viable with editor in next release) to have green glass 'copper coins', clear glass 'silver coins' and crystal glass 'gold coins'. 

Stone coins would also be viable i guess, i'm pretty sure some ancient civilization used some sort of stone coins.

Imagine an evil race with obsidian coins with an image of a dragon on one side and a demon surrounded by orcs (or something) on the other side. The orcs are bowing to the demon.

Edit: Heck, even ash/potash/pearlash coins would be fun. Soap or bone isn't really viable because it depends on what creatures it is made of. Imagine a civ that decides all it's coins have to be made of dragon, hydra and titan bones. Those coins would be freakin' rare. And still only worth 5 credits.  And gems are just too rare.

[Draco18s]

This is a wooden coin.  It grows on trees.
This is an ash coin.  It is disintegrating between your fingers, right hand.
This is a glass coin.  It is invisible.

[Neoskel]

This is a wooden coin.  It grows on trees.
This is an ash coin.  It is disintegrating between your fingers, right hand.
This is a glass coin.  It is invisible.

Which is all awesome. Even the ash coin disintegrating.  (well maybe not that awesome  )

Glass certainly isn't invisible though, and it is awesome because you could see both sides of the coin at the same time! (for clear and crystal glass anyways.) Imagine the clever ways they could make the engraved images relate to each other, like a canary and a cage. On the cage side it looks like the canary is trapped inside, but on the canary side it is flying free from the cage.

At least i didn't suggest coins made out of ice. 

Further on the lacquering idea, maybe you could carve fortifications and engravings out of constructed lacquered wood walls and floors. Would make elves having shrines/temples a possibility.

[Granite26]

I'd be happy if you could make coins out of anything, the value of the coin was dependant on the material (we are talking fully backed coins here, none of this paper crap) and the coin materials civs used was determined by the raws.

[Tyrving]

Elves never really struck me as the type to use coinage at all, actually. Seems more like those hippies would just trade their bundles and bundles of cloth for everything they need.

Doesn't seem to me that non-metal coins is something we really NEED, and I can't really see much point to such an addition, but hey, more variety is always a good thing, I suppose. Especially if it adds flavor to the game. Finding a bunch of ancient stone coins would be pretty cool.

[Caledonian]

The value of money has always been founded in the value of goods it can be exchanged for, not necessarily the 'value' of the substance it's made out of.  This is why there have been monetary systems that involved giant immovable stone objects on which agreements were written, and clamshell beads, etc. etc.

The key is that the money cannot be easily duplicated.  With 'valuable' metals, the function of coins was to provide a guarantee as to the purity and amount of the substance, backed up by a powerful entity (an organization or government, for example).  But many money systems have just been a way of counting - and either the substances they used were hard to acquire, their craftsmanship was hard to duplicate, or the effort involved in making the exchange medium was greater than their exchange value.  If it's easy to literally make money, people will do that, and the usefulness of the money as a symbol will be degraded.  Only when it's too difficult to counterfeit the money will it be an effective way to transfer value.

I see no reason why glass, wood, and stone should not be viable coinage substances.  The point isn't their material value, but that they are an effective way to represent 'value' as an abstraction.

[Neonivek]

The value of money has always been founded in the value of goods it can be exchanged for, not necessarily the 'value' of the substance it's made out of

It was usually both... Money had a value on what it could be traded for, it also most of the time had value itself.

It wasn't too often that money has no value outside the currency system, though it did happen.

[Granite26]

The value of money has always been founded in the value of goods it can be exchanged for, not necessarily the 'value' of the substance it's made out of. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency#Coinage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_currency

In a medieval setting, you're going to have a hard time coming up with a valid store of value short of the thing itself.

[Haven]

At least i didn't suggest coins made out of ice. 

Currency not valid outside the Shivering Planes.

This could be pretty cool, though I think it'd be more of a finishing touch thing...

Your Tax Collector advises you make more   coins, to pay for your citizens' +  roast+s and large  s.

[Draco18s]

This is why there have been monetary systems that involved giant immovable stone objects

*Cough* Those large stone wheels that the one island uses as currency actually do value them for the MATERIAL.

Their value is based on both the stone's size and its history. Historically the Yapese valued the disks because the material looks like quartz, and these were the shiniest objects around. Eventually the stones became legal tender and were even mandatory in some payments. The stones' value was kept high due to the difficulty and hazards involved in obtaining them. To quarry the stones, Yapese adventurers had to sail to distant islands and deal with local inhabitants that were sometimes hostile. Once quarried, the disks had to be transported back to Yap via rafts towed behind wind-powered canoes. The scarcity of the disks, and the effort and peril required to obtain them, made them valuable to the Yapese.

[Neoskel]

Thats a lot of discussion for the coins, but could i hear some feedback on the lacquering idea?

I figure only lacquered wood would be usable for coins.

[Granite26]

Thats a lot of discussion for the coins, but could i hear some feedback on the lacquering idea?

I figure only lacquered wood would be usable for coins.

Apathetic...  It should be easy to do as an item improvement using... resin(?) that only works on wood

[Wolfius]

...It should be easy to do as an item improvement using... resin(?) that only works on wood

How would lacquer be obtained? Process certain trees(build Resin Tap?)? Maybe a type of plant, or even some insects? That gives you resin, which could be processed to lacquer - workshops that process-to-resin would naturally have a process-to-lacquer, as well as a make-lacquer-from-resin, as you could probably do other things with the resin.