Britská kouzelnická měna

Wizards, at least those in Great Britain, do not perceive currency as a complicated matter, because they are easily able to solve complex calculations and transfers with magic, and magic also fundamentally affects their economy, so much so that it is quite simple. There are no mentions of taxes in the saga, it is not known how the Ministry of Magic and other government institutions are financed, there is no work with bank interest, bank loans and mortgages. There is also no large industry, everything is produced by individual manufacturers and small companies in a pre-industrial way, availability is probably ensured by magic again. Some means of transport are regulated by the Ministry of Magic, but in the vast majority of cases it is individual magical transport without infrastructure that would require financing. Most characters obviously have to work for their living, but there is not much said about wages, they obviously vary significantly and, above all, the usual expenses of Muggle families can again be significantly reduced by magic.

Yet each country has its own wizarding currency, and not much is known about the exchange rates or their value. For example, we only know that in the USA wizards pay with dragots and sprinks, and in France with bezants, while in Great Britain there are gold galleons (galleons), silver sickles (sickles), and bronze knouts (knuts). Their original names are said to come from Spanish ships, the galleon being the ancient Greek term for shekel, sometimes also translated as silver, and Knut or Canute is said to be the name of an 11th-century English Viking king.

Each of these coins also has its own emblem, and on the galleon, the film and book emblems are even different.

Movie characters
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Book characters
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They probably vary in size, in the film they are about the size of Muggle coins, in the books the galleons seem much larger, but the crickets are tiny, and they are probably all round, at least according to Ron Weasley's admiration for the Muggle seven-sided fifty pence. They all have the serial number of the goblin who minted them on the edge, which is probably the only way a wizarding coin could have been created. There is no known magical method by which precious metals can be produced (except for the Philosopher's Stone), so it should not be possible to counterfeit them. The Copying Charm is also not effective for this, as it wears off over time and the duplicates start to break, and no other known counterfeit coins are of a permanent nature.

And they have been used for a very long time. In the past, wizards, just like humans, used various forms of currency, starting with barter trade, which eventually evolved into the use of the leaves of the hogweed – a plant whose leaves shine like copper. Galleons already existed in the 13th century, and it is known that in 1260 they were worth much more than they are now, when one galleon would have been equal to about 6677 today. And their use was not always without problems, for example, the goblin Burgock tried to enforce a ban on the use of crickets due to his allergy to bronze. But he failed, crickets are still widely circulated and people even throw them into the fountain of wizarding brothers at the British Ministry of Magic for good luck, after which the ministry regularly donates them all to St. Mungo's Hospital. And they have become so familiar that they are even part of some sayings, such as "It's like losing a cricket and finding a galleon," or "Ain't ten for a cricket!".

There are ten of them per galleon. That's 17 sickles per galleon, 29 crickets per sickle, and 493 crickets per galleon. They can be exchanged in bulk at Gringotts, where goblins also exchange Muggle money for wizarding money. It's just that it's practically impossible to estimate with any certainty at what rate.

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First of all, fans with an understanding of economics agree that the rates indicated by the author are completely out of reality if the galleons are really made of gold. It is therefore possible that they are not even made of pure gold, but contain a small fraction of it and are gilded. Alternatively, they are treated so that wizards do not change them like ordinary gold in the Muggle world, which would cause their value and thus the value of all magical goods to fluctuate untraceably. Therefore, it is necessary to accept that none of the estimated rates or those indicated by the author depend on the value of the metal from which the coin is made, and that this is simply another example of an incompletely thought-out world, this time because the author is not an economist and the details of wizard fiscal policy were not important for a children's story.

Canonically, when looking for the value of the wizarding currency and the exchange rate, one can only rely on the author's statement and the mention in the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. From these it follows that in 2010 it should have been about 5 British pounds for 1 galleon, specifically it was calculated that 1 galleon = 4.93 pounds, 1 sickle = 0.29 pounds, 1 cricket = 0.01 pounds. Converted to Czech crowns as of December 2010, this would be 1 galleon = 140.40 CZK, 1 sickle = 8.30 CZK, 1 cricket = 0.30 CZK. This corresponds quite well to the possible prices of various goods, especially from later books, but it is completely lame on the other hand, when looking at the income and financial situation of the individual characters.

For example, we know that the Firebolt cost 300 galleons (42,120 CZK) and was the most expensive broom available, winning the Triwizard Tournament was a very tempting 1,000 galleons (1,404,000 CZK), a rare unicorn horn cost 21 galleons (3,000 CZK), most common textbooks cost 1-2 galleons (140 – 300 CZK), a butter lager cost 2 sickles (16.60 CZK), a newspaper cost between 1 and 5 crickets, i.e. 30 farthings – 1.50 CZK. Which are quite reasonable prices and even low, even though it is necessary to take into account that they are converted at the exchange rate from 2010 and set in the story in the 1990s. So they could probably really work. But we also know that in the second part, Molly Weasley could have taken a single galleon from the safe for school purchases, and for 5 pounds or 140 crowns she simply wouldn't send her family to school from a thrift store. Or we saw an advertisement for a sales assistant position in Krucánce a Kaňoury, who would earn 42 galleons a month, or roughly 5,900 CZK. With the proviso that if this employee had a child at Hogwarts, he would give a quarter of his salary, a full 9 galleons, for one advanced potions textbook.

Therefore, there is an opinion that the first three and last four books have a different value of the wizarding currency, with the last four corresponding to the author's exchange rate mentioned above, while the income and profits mentioned in the first three would mean a very strange imbalance. And therefore, some have calculated that at least in the first three books the exchange rate should correspond to 1 galleon = 50 - 200 pounds, which would be 1,470 - 5,900 CZK in December 2010. Considering the economic situation after the fall of socialism and before joining the EU, it probably doesn't make much sense to include the exchange rate in the 1990s, because it was still significantly distorted.

It is mainly based on several situations. When Harry Potter bought a wand in the first part, he paid 7 galleons, i.e. 10 - 41 thousand according to this proposed exchange rate. Very approximately and somewhat inaccurately, but in short 350 - 1,400 pounds. It would then be understandable that Ron Weasley had to use the wand of his older brother, because his family simply did not have such a large amount. Whereas if we were to base it on the exchange rate stated by the author, 5 pounds per galleon, it would be about 35 pounds, 5,000 CZK, which is a significantly lower amount, and for something that a wizard would have to use almost every day for his entire life. And of course it would make sense that the Weasleys could easily buy school supplies second-hand and from cheap shops where they pay in lower coins (and where prices are also correspondingly lower than when the change was made in the last four books), with a meager savings of 1 Galleon, if they could spend between 1.5 and 6 thousand crowns. And the value of the Daily Prophet in the first volume would also correspond to this, when Hagrid was supposed to pay 5 crickets, which would be 0.5 - 2 pounds, i.e. 14.07 CZK - 59 CZK, which again corresponds to the prices from cheap newspapers to magazines.

The turning point came in the fourth part. For example, Fred and George Weasley were selling canary biscuits, a snack that turns the person in question into a large canary for a few seconds, for 7 sickles. According to this exchange rate, this would mean 42-210 pounds for one, which is a completely absurd price, but according to the author's exchange rate, 2 pounds (about 60 CZK), which would probably be appropriate. Similarly, in the fourth part, at the Quidditch World Cup, Ron regretted not buying an omniscient telescope for 10 galleons, after which Harry bought three. If a galleon had cost 50-200 pounds, this would mean spending 14-59 thousand for one, and probably no one can imagine that even with his wealth he would be able to spend such a sum for essentially a toy for watching a single match, three times. But if a galleon was worth 5 pounds, Harry would spend about 1,400 CZK for one, which, even taking into account Harry's somewhat irresponsible approach to money and the joke that Ron won't get anything for Christmas for ten years, is acceptable.

And I lean towards this side. From the fourth volume onwards, the rate of 5 pounds/galeon would be quite appropriate, while in the first three books, from which we mainly know the expenses on the most expensive things and sporadic mentions of income, it follows that the galleon should have a greater value, while the prices would also be a little different than later, when the author expanded the world more.