Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing a topic that stimulates the minds of Harry Potter fans worldwide- wizarding
currency. Now, let me start off by saying that just because Wizardkind is far more independent
than muggles- able to achieve all sorts of things through magic- it doesn’t mean that
their society can operate without currency. At the end of the day, the wizarding world
still has an economy of its own, and currency drives this economy.
For those unaware, the textbook definition of economy is ‘a system of making and trading
things of value divided into goods (physical things) and services (things done by people).
It assumes there is medium of exchange, which in the modern world is a system of finance.”
So whether you’re muggle or magical, this is crucial. We also know that, just like in
the muggle world, the wizarding world has an upper, middle and lower class. Within their
society the Malfoys are upper class, Weasleys are lower class and- perhaps someone like
a middle-ranking Hogwarts professor would be middle class.
This brings us to wizarding currency itself, which is comprised of Galleons, Sickles, and
Knuts - in depreciating order. These names also bear real-world historical context: Galleons
were Spanish treasure ships often raided by pirates. "Sickle" is the ancient Greek term
for the shekel, the currency of Judea, and "Knut" or "Canute" is the name of an 11th-century
King of England.
All of this currency, at least in the UK, is overlooked by the goblins of Gringotts
bank. So we’ve got Galleons, Sickles and Knuts- great, but those names also don’t
mean much without FINANCIAL context. So, what are they worth to us? What is the equivalent
dollar value? I live in Canada but I won’t convert to
CAD dollars because most of you guys are either in the US or UK, so I’ll be providing equivalents
in those currencies. Sorry to those of you whose currency I’ve left out.
To start, 1 GALLEON- the largest form of wizarding currency, is said to be worth about “about
five great british pounds” - at least according to JK Rowling. This would mean that the equivalent
US dollar value is 6 dollars and 98 cents. Ok- so that’s a start, now what about Sickles?
Fortunately, we know that 1 galleon is comprised of about 17 sickles, so with an easy calculation
we should be able to find the real world value of 1 sickle.
From this, we can fairly confidently state that 1 sickle is worth about 29.4 p in the
UK and 41 cents in the US.
Next, Knuts. Now, once again, because we have been blessed with the knowledge of wizarding
currency equivalency, we can calculate the value of a knut. 1 galleon is said to amount
to 493 Knuts.
This means that 1 Knut is worth about 1.014p and 1.415 US cents.
So now that we know the approximate equivalent value of wizarding currency, let’s take
a look and see what the wizarding population pays for certain objects. We’ll start with
some known prices:
When Harry buys ‘the lot’- all of the candy off the train trolley in the first book,
it costs him 11 sickles and 7 knuts. This means that he paid 323.4p in sickles and 7.098p
in knuts- totalling 330.498p- aka 3 pounds 30- sounds like a good deal to me. The equivalent
in USD would be 460.905 cents or 4 dollars and 61 cents.
We know that a ride on the Knight Bus is 11 sickles- aka 3 pounds 23 or 4 dollars 51.
This seems more consistent with our own economy, albeit still a little expensive.
One hot chocolate is 2 sickles: aka 59p (rounded) or 82 cents. For this same price you can get
a water bottle and a toothbrush, or a butterbeer.
Okay, here’s where things get a bit expensive. It is has been expressed that a copy of Advanced
Potion Making comes in at a whopping 9 galleons. 9 galleons is 45 pounds or 62.82 cents. Given
Harry’s immense wealth, it’s interesting that he is the one who ended up using a copy
from the classroom.
This means that a Lamborghini Aventador in the muggle world would run you about 56,400
galleons- I think a fast broom is a cheaper option.
And that’s the end of this video! If you have any questions about wizarding currency,
or anything else for that matter, leave them in the comment section below.
Until next time
Dry up Dursley, you big prune