4e Silvering...now with silver!

[Vulkarius]

I was watching Pawn Stars the other day and they were talking about in the old days ( circa Ye Olde days) whenever you wanted something made from silver in stead of paying in silver coins then using said coins to buy silver they would just use the coins themselves as the silver to make a spoon. Now to the point.

I was glancing at PHB and saw the section on silvering weapons such as crossbow bolts or throwing stars costs x ammount of GP to get the silver and make it a viable weapon. Couldn't you just pay in SP and that would cover the need for silver and just pay the remainderin GP? (for labor) Eh?

[oxybe]

depends on how the coins are made & the technology available.

a silver coin might not be a disk of pure silver, but another metal coated in silver or made silver plated through electroplating or even just pouring the liquid silver on top of another metal with a much higher, and cheaper, melting point.

it could end up still costing just as much if it causes the metalsmith to go do a few extra steps needed to remove the silver from the disk, purify it a bit then work it onto the metal.

[Yuki Akuma]

Silvered weapons are not just made of silver, or covered in silver. They're made with alchemically-treated silver to make them tough and light enough to use as weapons.

An actual sword made of silver would be horrible.

Although... of course you can pay in SP. SP and GP are part of the same currency system. It'd be like asking if you could pay for a $1 candy bar in nickels.

[Asbestos]

depends on how the coins are made & the technology available.

a silver coin might not be a disk of pure silver, but another metal coated in silver or made silver plated through electroplating or even just pouring the liquid silver on top of another metal with a much higher, and cheaper, melting point.

That crap didn't really start until relatively modern times, I'd assume that D&D silver coins are as silver as the silver coins we had in this country until 1965. That is to say, pretty damn silver (90%). D&D currency undeniably operates on a gold standard where coins have intrinsic value. Coated coins lack this intrinsic value.

Anyway, I agree with Yuki_Akuma for the reason you can't just pay in regular silver.

[Katana_Geldar]

Vulkarius, what you are talking about is generally what happened in the early middle ages, particularly with the Vikings who did not have coins but still liked shiny things. They would have thought little of trading a silver brooch or something of the like for value, or cutting a coin in half for "change".

And yeah, electroplating is rather modern.

[Vulkarius]

Silvered weapons are not just made of silver, or covered in silver. They're made with alchemically-treated silver to make them tough and light enough to use as weapons.

An actual sword made of silver would be horrible.

Although... of course you can pay in SP. SP and GP are part of the same currency system. It'd be like asking if you could pay for a $1 candy bar in nickels.

I know they're not pure silver because it would never keep an edge due to it's softness. I'm talking about using sp (melting it down) as the silver that is required to make a silvered weapon.

EDIT wow I'm an ass sorry. I now see what you're saying I just glanced at your entry. What you're saying is that the procedure does not call for plain silver (sp) that it calls for specialized silver right? Again sorry ...gonna go.... sit in the corner now...

[Yuki Akuma]

I know they're not pure silver because it would never keep an edge due to it's softness. I'm talking about using sp (melting it down) as the silver that is required to make a silvered weapon.

There is no reason why not, but, then again, any smith capable of sivlering a weapon will probably have the alchemically-treated silver close to hand already. Melting down your silver coins would take even longer and up the cost.

I can see doing it if you want to turn a family heirloom into a silver sword, but why bother otherwise?

[Vulkarius]

There is no reason why not, but, then again, any smith capable of sivlering a weapon will probably have the alchemically-treated silver close to hand already. Melting down your silver coins would take even longer and up the cost.

I can see doing it if you want to turn a family heirloom into a silver sword, but why bother otherwise?

Other than to annoy the DM? Not much incentive to bother. (see edit in post above. Again sorry)

[Book Wyrm]

I know this is off topic, but electroplating may have been around for a very long time. The Parthian Battery may have been used for electroplating and is dated around the early centuries AD.

Back to on topic: I would assume most of the cost for "silver" weapons comes from the alchemical process by which silver is attached to the weapon making it more like gilding not just coating. Coating an entire sword in silver would make it very heavy, but a solid silver arrow head is not that unimaginable.

EDIT: Damned Ninjas; took too long looking up the battery on wikipedia and they sneak in behind my back...

[Vulkarius]

I know this is off topic, but electroplating may have been around for a very long time. The Parthian Battery may have been used for electroplating and is dated around the early centuries AD.

Back to on topic: I would assume most of the cost for "silver" weapons comes from the alchemical process by which silver is attached to the weapon making it more like gilding not just coating. Coating an entire sword in silver would make it very heavy, but a solid silver arrow head is not that unimaginable.

EDIT: Damned Ninjas; took too long looking up the battery on wikipedia and they sneak in behind my back...

I was thinking along these lines but couldn't get to wikipedia fast enough. But the biggest thing is how economicaly feasible would it be?