Another question for somebody in England (cost of stamps)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 87835

Kathryn Cawte wrote:
> Despite being English I am hopelessly out of touch and have no idea
how much
> a first class or second class stamp costs. But on the manufacturing
money
> issue - if anyone can manufacture money then it has no value. I saw
someone
> suggest that you can't transfigure things into pure elements and I
suspect
> that *maybe* that's why there is no paper money in the wizarding
world only
> coins. <snip>
These coins cannot
> change in value because they are made of the actual metal and their
value
> comes not from some belief that a bank will honour them but the actual
> intrinsic value of the coins. Presumably the coins are made of gold,
silver
> and ... uh .... copper? 
<snip>


I like your theory but there's one small flaw; knuts are made of
bronze, which is an alloy, not a pure element. Still, it would be hard
to conjure bronze with the exact imprint of a real coin out of thin
air, and we know that Leprechaun gold doesn't last, so conjured wizard
money of any denomination wouldn't, either. By the same token (no pun
intended), Sirius can't conjure food for himself when he's in hiding
even though food isn't a pure element. Too bad--rather limits the
superiority of wizards over muggles, who also have to earn rather than
conjure our food and money.

Carol