Re: type of coins used in my Golden Age pirate world
Here's a free idea:
At one time, the various British gold coins were minted in simple multiples of weight, so a coin that had a face value of one fourth of a larger coin would weigh one fourth of the amount of that larger coin. That made it easy to count money; just weigh it all in one batch.
However, if, as was often done, someone had scraped a bit of gold off the edge of a coin (called "clipping coins"), it wouldn't weigh as much. (That's the reason silver dimes had that corrugated edge, by the way, to make any such attempt obvious.) So your re-minted local coinage might be protected by a fancy edge, or they might have plain edges (much easier to do) and then they'd be at risk of being clipped.
The original pieces of eight were pieces of coins that had literally been cut into pieces; a piece of eight was one-eighth of the whole coin. It was much harder to tell whether they'd been cut evenly or scraped down, as they were narrow pie-shaped bits anyway ("two bits" for a quarter of a Spanish gold dollar was literally from the two pieces of eight that it used to be).
So you have a decision to make about your pirate colony: do they mint their coins to be protected by fancy edges? Or do they make them easy to scrape down and debase? Is anyone punished for it, if caught? Do the clippers wait until they have enough scraped off gold dust to mint a real-gold coin of their own, and if so, is it accepted? (Do they invent fake countries for their real gold coins, or just do a bad imitation of a real one?) Do they use it to plate lead, making a debased coin?
Counterfeiting and coin debasing could be a subplot in your adventure story.
=Tamar
Here's a free idea:
At one time, the various British gold coins were minted in simple multiples of weight, so a coin that had a face value of one fourth of a larger coin would weigh one fourth of the amount of that larger coin. That made it easy to count money; just weigh it all in one batch.
However, if, as was often done, someone had scraped a bit of gold off the edge of a coin (called "clipping coins"), it wouldn't weigh as much. (That's the reason silver dimes had that corrugated edge, by the way, to make any such attempt obvious.) So your re-minted local coinage might be protected by a fancy edge, or they might have plain edges (much easier to do) and then they'd be at risk of being clipped.
The original pieces of eight were pieces of coins that had literally been cut into pieces; a piece of eight was one-eighth of the whole coin. It was much harder to tell whether they'd been cut evenly or scraped down, as they were narrow pie-shaped bits anyway ("two bits" for a quarter of a Spanish gold dollar was literally from the two pieces of eight that it used to be).
So you have a decision to make about your pirate colony: do they mint their coins to be protected by fancy edges? Or do they make them easy to scrape down and debase? Is anyone punished for it, if caught? Do the clippers wait until they have enough scraped off gold dust to mint a real-gold coin of their own, and if so, is it accepted? (Do they invent fake countries for their real gold coins, or just do a bad imitation of a real one?) Do they use it to plate lead, making a debased coin?
Counterfeiting and coin debasing could be a subplot in your adventure story.
=Tamar
L
Well Port Lucre Police Force is based on the Bow Street Runners, which was a for fee policing as I understand, quite a step up from Thief Takers which worked for a fee as well.
This Police force will have an unholy allience with Black Octopus this refects in North America the Mafia and the Police when came to handling types of crime, the Thief Taker who founds the police force of Port Lucre is based on the main character the The Sweeny TV series, known as the Sweetie due to him allways chewing on a bit of Sugercane.
I still would like help with this setting,
LW
This Police force will have an unholy allience with Black Octopus this refects in North America the Mafia and the Police when came to handling types of crime, the Thief Taker who founds the police force of Port Lucre is based on the main character the The Sweeny TV series, known as the Sweetie due to him allways chewing on a bit of Sugercane.
I still would like help with this setting,
LW
Folks--
Please don't post "answer" responses to this thread. This guy has been asking people to write his various books for him for years and years and has started numerous threads. Note that it took him two years to respond to the last post.
It's one thing to ask for help when you're faced with a narrative problem. It's another to ask people to do your job for you, when the Interwebs are full of information that can aid in any research effort.
Real writers don't endlessly ask other people to do their work for them. They do it themselves. Real writers don't ask other people what style their book should be. They actually write the thing. I'd suggest that everyone ignore this person until he (or she) has actually WRITTEN the thing, and those who are interested can critique the thing.
Please don't post "answer" responses to this thread. This guy has been asking people to write his various books for him for years and years and has started numerous threads. Note that it took him two years to respond to the last post.
It's one thing to ask for help when you're faced with a narrative problem. It's another to ask people to do your job for you, when the Interwebs are full of information that can aid in any research effort.
Real writers don't endlessly ask other people to do their work for them. They do it themselves. Real writers don't ask other people what style their book should be. They actually write the thing. I'd suggest that everyone ignore this person until he (or she) has actually WRITTEN the thing, and those who are interested can critique the thing.
Thanks, raisin. 
Yes, I've noticed this person asking for help before and helped him once, being quite generous with my time. After he came back again and again, I started ignoring his questions.
And I agree - real writers get on with it and actually write... except for when (like me) they're stuck in writer's block. But this whole thing reminds me of an anecdote I read once (sorry to digress, but it's quite apropos):
A young man is reported to have approached W. A. Mozart (surely one of the greatest musical prodigies of all time) and asked, "Herr Mozart, I have the ambition to write symphonies and perhaps you can advise me on how to get started."
Mozart said, "The best advice I can give you is to wait until you are older and more experienced, and try your hand at less ambitious pieces to begin with."
The young man looked astonished. "But, Herr Mozart, you yourself wrote symphonies when you were considerably younger than I."
"Ah," said Mozart, "but I did so without asking advice."
Yes, I've noticed this person asking for help before and helped him once, being quite generous with my time. After he came back again and again, I started ignoring his questions.
And I agree - real writers get on with it and actually write... except for when (like me) they're stuck in writer's block. But this whole thing reminds me of an anecdote I read once (sorry to digress, but it's quite apropos):
A young man is reported to have approached W. A. Mozart (surely one of the greatest musical prodigies of all time) and asked, "Herr Mozart, I have the ambition to write symphonies and perhaps you can advise me on how to get started."
Mozart said, "The best advice I can give you is to wait until you are older and more experienced, and try your hand at less ambitious pieces to begin with."
The young man looked astonished. "But, Herr Mozart, you yourself wrote symphonies when you were considerably younger than I."
"Ah," said Mozart, "but I did so without asking advice."
As per this thread, and in case that lwhitehead ever asks us any more questions:
Sir or madam,
This book, published by Thames and Hudson, is on sale. I've read some of the author's other books, and he's usually quite good. The "Unofficial Manual" series is also very good.
If you are serious about writing a book, fergawdssake - read, read, read. If you can't afford to buy your own copy (and not everyone can), see if your local library has one. If they don't, they might be able to secure a copy for you.
I note that your original post was in 2009, which is now 9 years ago. If you've let 9 years go by and you haven't yet written a thing, then I'm sorry to say that you never will.
None of us have either the time or inclination to write your book for you. Do your own research. I think that's probably the best advice that I can give you, and it is the last thing I will say on the matter.
Sir or madam,
This book, published by Thames and Hudson, is on sale. I've read some of the author's other books, and he's usually quite good. The "Unofficial Manual" series is also very good.
If you are serious about writing a book, fergawdssake - read, read, read. If you can't afford to buy your own copy (and not everyone can), see if your local library has one. If they don't, they might be able to secure a copy for you.
I note that your original post was in 2009, which is now 9 years ago. If you've let 9 years go by and you haven't yet written a thing, then I'm sorry to say that you never will.
None of us have either the time or inclination to write your book for you. Do your own research. I think that's probably the best advice that I can give you, and it is the last thing I will say on the matter.
