Currencies mentioned in Girl Genius[]
A (possibly incomplete) list of currencies used in the comic.
The information is compiled from a LiveJournal thread on the subject in the "Girl Genius Lab: Agatha's Minions" community, with some later additions by this wiki's editors.
- p - Beetleburg: On the first page ✣ , a sign shows that frogs are 2p, sugar frogs 5p, sugar sans frogs 2p.
- pennies - Tarvek ✣ mentions the existance of penny dreadfuls.[1]
- pfenninge - The novel Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg mentions "pfennig dreadfuls,"[2] in a twist on the above-mentioned penny dreadful.
- groats - Beetleburg: When von Zinzer and his brother mug Agatha, they are talking about a "groat ✣ ".
- shillings/pence - Beetleburg: When Punch and Judy were out hunting for Agatha's locket, they passed by a market ✣ where prices appeared to be in shillings and pence.
- castlemarks - In in the Sturmhalten pass, they charged a "ten castlemark per wagon ✣ " fee.
- Imperial dollars - Othar referred to "Imperial dollars" in one of his Tweeted adventures.
- cents - Mechanicsburg: Poster on the wall ✣ giving a price as "3¢".
Possibly relevant outside information[]
United Kingdom[]
Since 1971 the Pound has been divided into 100 Pence (abbreviated p).
Prior to decimalization the coinage was complicated[3][4]:
- The Pound was divided into 20 Shillings (abbreviated s).
- The Shilling was divided into 12 Pence (abbreviated d).
- The Pence was divided into 4 Farthings.
- There were names for additional denominations, including:
Germany[]
Before the introduction of the Euro, the German unit of currency was the Mark, divided into 100 Pfennigs. The Mark was revalued several times due to financial changes and problems and had various names (Goldmark, Reichsmark, Rentenmark).[7]
Prior to unification in 1871, the general area of Germany consisted of a huge number of states (Duchies, Principalities, Counties, Archbishoprics, Free Cities, and states of many other types) with many different currencies. Many of the states had coins with a denomination of a Pfennig, but the value varied widely.[8]
For several hundred years a common basis for German (and other European) currencies was the Thaler.[9] The size of this coin was copied by many other countries, including the Spanish Dollar (commonly know as a "piece of eight") and the trade dollars mentioned above. The thaler lent its subdivisions to a variety of descended currencies (including the British pound), which were the schilling (20 per thaler) and the pfennig (12 per schilling). The p mentioned above may refer to pfennigs. (Incidentally, the p is not silent in pfennig. This is one of many pecularities of the German language which can create sublime comedy.)
References
- ↑ Penny dreadfuls (Wikipedia) were cheap serial novels published in 19th century Britain. They were named after the fact that they usually costed a penny.
- ↑ Agatha H. and the Siege of Mechanicsburg, (footnote #24). (Accessed via Google Books.)
- ↑ Wikipedia:Coins of the pound sterling
- ↑ Wikipedia:List of British bank notes and coins
- ↑ Wikipedia:Mark (money)
- ↑ Wikipedia:Trade dollar
- ↑ Wikipedia:Mark (money)
- ↑ Wikipedia:Category:Currencies of Germany
- ↑ Wikipedia:Thaler