Exchange rate, Galleons to Dollars

[joywitch999]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C4045
From: joywitch999
Subject: Re: Exchange rate, Galleons to Dollars
Reply To: [Yahoo! #4021] Re: Exchange rate, Galleons to Dollars
Date: 7/12/00 2:45 pm  (ET)

Well, most newspapers cost about a quarter (note to the UK: that means
a quarter of a dollar, or 25 cents). So if 5 knuts = $.25, then

1 knut = $.05
1 sickle = 29 knuts = $1.45 which is about a British pound, right?
1 galleon = 17 sickles = $24.65.

Hmmmm.......sounds like too much. In Book 3, Hermione has 10 galleons
spending money -- almost $250 sounds like a lot of spending money for a
13 year old girl. And Harry pays 7 galleons for his wand, which would
be $172.55. Pretty steep, although, personally, I would be willing to
pay that much for a magic wand.

OK, lets try again. Maybe the Daily Prophet is very cheap, more like 5
cents a copy than 25 cents. If that is true, then

1 knut = $.01 or what we Americans call a penny
1 sickle = $.29
1 galleon = $4.93 or about $5

Then Hermione has about $50 in spending money, and Harrys wand cost
about $35. That seems more reasonable to me.

Oh, I almost forgot. Harry pays 11 sickles and 7 knuts for his candy on
the Hogwarts Express in Book 1. If one knut is worth a penny, then he
bought $3.26 worth of candy. That also sounds about right.