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One wonders if they are worth face value given inflation. It would be a fun exercise to figure out their value in pounds sterling and then calculate what that n

One wonders if they are worth face value given inflation. It would be a fun exercise to figure out their value in pounds sterling and then calculate what that number would be in the present. That said, my kids and I buried 50 copper coins in a forest in the sierras, perhaps a thousand years from now the aliens visiting our dead planet will find them. :-(

freeqaz 2y ago
It's have to be deflation for them to be worth more. The only thing here that would be the equivalent would be the value of the silver. I'm _guessing_ that the silver is worth like 1% of the valuation (from looking at the photos). Doesn't seem like it's 2500 kilos of silver (~$1100 per kg at current prices)!
- fngjdflmdflg 2y ago
  >The only thing here that would be the equivalent would be the value of the silver Not necessarily. A lot more silver has been mined since the Norman Conquest (for example in the New World, but also in the Old World) which increases its supply. The demand for and utility of silver in general has also changed since then.
- ChuckMcM 2y ago
  Have you done any comparative economics? That is where you take what it "cost" in terms of money for goods or services at a given time and compare that to the cost of the same (or equivalent) goods and services in the present time. Some things like property ownership won't work because the rules changed so much between then and now but meals? Etc? might work.
  - eru 2y ago
    It depends a lot on the basket you are choosing. Picking the 'BigMac index' might be fun, ie you try to price a Big Mac. (Since the Big Mac doesn't contain any tomatoes, you could probably have made a reasonable Big Mac clone in the Middle Ages.) It gets ridiculous, if you go by the price of eg the amount of computation a human can do in a year. Or 'ice cubes in the height of summer'.
    - kasey_junk 2y ago
      The sesame seeds in the bun would be a trade good. And there are tomatoes in the special sauce.
      - eru 2y ago
        > The sesame seeds in the bun would be a trade good. Yes, but they were available in the Middle Ages. > And there are tomatoes in the special sauce. OK, I didn't know that. They didn't have tomatoes in the European Middle Ages before contact with the New World was established. But you can probably come reasonably close enough to a Big Mac knockoff with stuff they had available in the Middle Ages.
        kasey_junk 2y ago
        Sure. It’s just going to be expensive.
    - ChuckMcM 2y ago
      I could certainly see that. Now I'm wondering what someone would have bought with these pennies when they were actually coin of the realm. Edit: per an up level comment, 15 chickens or half a knife? Hmm, chickens are easy the knife isn't. (wide variability in knife pricing). Given that the 'collectible' value has increased beyond the monetary value.
MaxHoppersGhost 2y ago
Why would our planet be dead in 1000 years? And why did you decide to have children if you believe that?
- bryanrasmussen 2y ago
  Just how long are you expecting their children to live?
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  That's a bit of a reach. Nihilism / pessimism about the far future doesn't mean people just give up their current life.
leeoniya 2y ago
> perhaps a thousand years from now the aliens visiting our dead planet will find them. :-( aliens will likely find us the same way we find dinosaurs but probably no one will find us. 1000 years from now things will be very different but i suspect humans will still exist. imo we as a species have very little chance of living 1M years, tho.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- eru 2y ago
  Change is perhaps accelerating, especially since the invention of agriculture, writing and more recently the Industrial Revolution. Eg nowadays almost everyone has the 'modern overbite', ie the top front teeth extend in front of the bottom front teeth. See eg https://nextnature.org/en/magazine/story/2013/did-forks-really-give-modern-humans-an-overbite https://nextnature.org/en/magazine/story/2013/did-forks-real... The article explicitly blames forks, but people in Song China had a modern overbite long before Europeans invented forks. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overbite#Changing_human_dentition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overbite#Changing_human_dentit... and https://petermorwood.tumblr.com/post/181554755777/deadcatwithaflamethrower-amemait https://petermorwood.tumblr.com/post/181554755777/deadcatwit...
- Mistletoe 2y ago
  What could we do to increase our chances of lasting 1M years? I think it’s a useful thought experiment for thinking about what we could change to increase our chances. I do disagree with you though and think humans are like cockroaches now and there is a 0% chance of exterminating every last one of us and that’s a good thing. Nature had its chance at several bottlenecks in the past and failed. >One of the greatest human bottlenecks occurred between 930,000 and 813,000 years ago, when the human population was reduced to about 1,280 breeding individuals for 117,000 years. This bottleneck may have brought human ancestors close to extinction. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7487 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7487
  - leeoniya 2y ago
BurningFrog 2y ago
These "silver pennies" are worth $2000 each, according to a comment on the page, while a current UK penny is about $0.01.
- gsck 2y ago
  1 penny = 1 penny, truly extraordinary
erehweb 2y ago
From a comment on the article: "There's a page at Regia Anglorum that tries to give some examples. The "d" indicates a silver penny. It [a silver penny] might buy 15 chickens, but it also might only buy half a knife (because metal is rare in comparison to chickens and requires a bunch of skilled labor to work it.)"

freeqaz 2y ago

It's have to be deflation for them to be worth more. The only thing here that would be the equivalent would be the value of the silver. I'm _guessing_ that the silver is worth like 1% of the valuation (from looking at the photos). Doesn't seem like it's 2500 kilos of silver (~$1100 per kg at current prices)!

fngjdflmdflg 2y ago
>The only thing here that would be the equivalent would be the value of the silver Not necessarily. A lot more silver has been mined since the Norman Conquest (for example in the New World, but also in the Old World) which increases its supply. The demand for and utility of silver in general has also changed since then.
ChuckMcM 2y ago
Have you done any comparative economics? That is where you take what it "cost" in terms of money for goods or services at a given time and compare that to the cost of the same (or equivalent) goods and services in the present time. Some things like property ownership won't work because the rules changed so much between then and now but meals? Etc? might work.
- eru 2y ago
  It depends a lot on the basket you are choosing. Picking the 'BigMac index' might be fun, ie you try to price a Big Mac. (Since the Big Mac doesn't contain any tomatoes, you could probably have made a reasonable Big Mac clone in the Middle Ages.) It gets ridiculous, if you go by the price of eg the amount of computation a human can do in a year. Or 'ice cubes in the height of summer'.
  - kasey_junk 2y ago
    The sesame seeds in the bun would be a trade good. And there are tomatoes in the special sauce.
    - eru 2y ago
      > The sesame seeds in the bun would be a trade good. Yes, but they were available in the Middle Ages. > And there are tomatoes in the special sauce. OK, I didn't know that. They didn't have tomatoes in the European Middle Ages before contact with the New World was established. But you can probably come reasonably close enough to a Big Mac knockoff with stuff they had available in the Middle Ages.
      - kasey_junk 2y ago
        Sure. It’s just going to be expensive.
  - ChuckMcM 2y ago
    I could certainly see that. Now I'm wondering what someone would have bought with these pennies when they were actually coin of the realm. Edit: per an up level comment, 15 chickens or half a knife? Hmm, chickens are easy the knife isn't. (wide variability in knife pricing). Given that the 'collectible' value has increased beyond the monetary value.

MaxHoppersGhost 2y ago

Why would our planet be dead in 1000 years? And why did you decide to have children if you believe that?

bryanrasmussen 2y ago
Just how long are you expecting their children to live?
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
That's a bit of a reach. Nihilism / pessimism about the far future doesn't mean people just give up their current life.

leeoniya 2y ago

> perhaps a thousand years from now the aliens visiting our dead planet will find them. :-( aliens will likely find us the same way we find dinosaurs but probably no one will find us. 1000 years from now things will be very different but i suspect humans will still exist. imo we as a species have very little chance of living 1M years, tho.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
eru 2y ago
Change is perhaps accelerating, especially since the invention of agriculture, writing and more recently the Industrial Revolution. Eg nowadays almost everyone has the 'modern overbite', ie the top front teeth extend in front of the bottom front teeth. See eg https://nextnature.org/en/magazine/story/2013/did-forks-really-give-modern-humans-an-overbite https://nextnature.org/en/magazine/story/2013/did-forks-real... The article explicitly blames forks, but people in Song China had a modern overbite long before Europeans invented forks. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overbite#Changing_human_dentition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overbite#Changing_human_dentit... and https://petermorwood.tumblr.com/post/181554755777/deadcatwithaflamethrower-amemait https://petermorwood.tumblr.com/post/181554755777/deadcatwit...
Mistletoe 2y ago
What could we do to increase our chances of lasting 1M years? I think it’s a useful thought experiment for thinking about what we could change to increase our chances. I do disagree with you though and think humans are like cockroaches now and there is a 0% chance of exterminating every last one of us and that’s a good thing. Nature had its chance at several bottlenecks in the past and failed. >One of the greatest human bottlenecks occurred between 930,000 and 813,000 years ago, when the human population was reduced to about 1,280 breeding individuals for 117,000 years. This bottleneck may have brought human ancestors close to extinction. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7487 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7487
- leeoniya 2y ago

BurningFrog 2y ago

These "silver pennies" are worth $2000 each, according to a comment on the page, while a current UK penny is about $0.01.

gsck 2y ago
1 penny = 1 penny, truly extraordinary

erehweb 2y ago

From a comment on the article: "There's a page at Regia Anglorum that tries to give some examples. The "d" indicates a silver penny. It [a silver penny] might buy 15 chickens, but it also might only buy half a knife (because metal is rare in comparison to chickens and requires a bunch of skilled labor to work it.)"