Marks

[Flowerdancer Prime]

One Mark Will Buy You According To The Dragonlovers Guide To Pern

Item:	Location:
A Plain Leather Belt With A Bronze Buckle	Tannercraft
A Full Sack Of Fine-Milled Flour	Bakercraft
16 Small (1-Pound) Loaves Of Bread	Bakercraft
Half Sack Of Sweetening	Bakercraft
192 Bubbly Pies	Bakercraft
2 Sacks Of Nuts In The Shell	Benden Hold
A Plain Shirt	Weavercraft
A Child's Frock	Weavercraft
A Small Knife	Smithcraft
1 Young Ovine Or 4 Fowl	Beastcraft
A Keg Of Ale	Winecraft
2 Bottles Of Wine (Undistinguished Vintage)	Winecraft
A Pair Of Moccasins	Tannercraft
A Hand-Sized Hard-Wood Box With Hinges, Hasp	Woodcraft
An Apprentice-Made Pipe	Harpercraft
2 Sacks Of Cromcoal	Minecraft
A Whetstone	Minecraft
A Graduated-Bead Necklace Agate Or Quartz	Minecraft
A Bangle Bracelet Jade	Lemos Mine-Crafthall
1/8 Of A Bovine Herdbeast	Keroon Hold

[Flowerdancer Prime]

Marks As A Means Of Exchange According To The Dragonlovers Guide To Pern:

The Usual Method Of Exchanging Goods Or Services Is Barter. A Man Will Trade His Skill Or Merchandise For That Of Another Usually At A Gather. Gather’s Hold-Sponsored Fairs Are Held As Frequently As One Every Seven Days In Major Holds, Or As Infrequently As 2 To 3 Times A Turn In Smaller, More Isolated Holds. The Unit Of Monetary Exchange Is The Mark. These Are Disks Made Of Wood, Supplied As Blanks By Lemos Hold And Stamped With Special Dies That Denote Value And Source. The Value Of A Mark Fluctuates With The Supply Of Barterable Goods. After A Bad Harvest, A Mark Is Worth More Because The Goods It Represents Are Harder To Obtain; After A Good Harvest, The Situation Is Reversed. This Fiscal Autonomy Is Set By A Group Of Traders, Craftmasters, And Lord Holders That Meet Every Year At Harvest Time To Fix What A Mark Will Buy For The Next Turn. In A Good Turn, An Ornament Belt Will Cost 2 Marks. Each Major Hall And Hold Has Its Own Die Stamps For Impressing Marks. The Demoninations Are 1/32 Of A Mark, 1/16, 1/8, ¼, ½, 1, 2, 5, 10 Marks And A Few 100 Mark Pieces For Very Large Transactions. For Fractional Marks, Only One Number Is Stamped On The Blank. A Horizontal Line Above The Number Shows That It Is Worth Less Than One Mark. If The Line Is Below The Number, The Piece Is Worth That Number Of Whole Marks. The Designs On Marks Are Very Complex And Hard To Duplicate Without The Correct Tools, Which The Smithcraft Provides. An Imperfection Is Consciously Added To Every Imprinting To Make Them Even Harder To Counterfeit. Only So Many Marks Are Issued Per Turn, To Balance The Supply Of Goods Or To Replace Old, Worn-Out Mark Pieces. Musical Instruments Sell For Prices From 2 Marks And Up. Runnerbeasts Can Be Had From 9 Marks Up And Their Riding Gear From 3 Marks For Used Leathers To More Than 12 For Custom Gear For A Lord Holder’s Steed.