FWIW: Potter's Cash (and vault size)

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 161956

> boyminn:
> Note, Hagrid picked it up off the /floor/. Generally, one
> would not refer to the bottom of a wall safe as 'the 
> floor'. That makes me again think this is a walk-in
> closet sized room. 
> 
> Also, keep in mind that it is unlikely that the Malfoy's
> estimated fortune would fit in a wall safe.

Neri:
I agree that Vault 713 is probably room size (I've always pictured it
like that myself). However, it makes sense that the Potters' vault is
more similar in size to the Weasleys' vault than to Vault 713.
Remember, Vault 713 is a high-security vault, and probably belongs to
Hogwarts, while the Potters' and Weasleys' vaults are both regular
security. As to the Malfoys' vault – no available data. It may well be
high-security and room-size like 713.  


> bboyminn:
> 
> Well, I admit I'm trying to force everything to fit my
> particular model of Harry's wealth, but I have to say
> that I think Harry in this moment is thinking in concept
> rather than in practicalities.<snip>  
> He is practical in conceiving his plan, but not practical
> in the concept of mechanically executing it; he thinks 
> about 'what' but hasn't gotten to the 'how' just yet.

Neri:
Note that in this paragraph Harry is thinking in very mechanical
terms. He considers putting a spell on his trunk to make it
feather-light, tie it to his broomstick and fly to London with his
Invisibility Cloak on. It seems that in Harry's mental image the
content of his vault would approximately fit into his trunk.

Regarding Harry's wealth, I have to point out that after HBP all
calculations are off anyway, because Harry has also inherited Sirius'
fortune, and we don't have any idea how much that amounts to. Granted,
selling 12 Grimmauld Place might prove a bit difficult, considering no
one but the Order members will ever be able to find it.

BTW, I have a speculation that the locket Horcrux is now either in
Sirius's vault 711 or in Harry's own vault. I estimate that Sirius
raided Kreacher's nest after Christmas in OotP, found the locket, and
since he was preparing his will at that time he decided to leave it to
Harry, so he sent it with Emmeline Vance to put in his vault.
Dumbledore said in HBP that Sirius' money was transferred to Harry's
account in Gringots. The question is: does this mean the content of
711 was moved to Harry's vault, or that 711 is now Harry's? Either
works well with my theory, but I think the first possibility would
make for a better story. It means Bill probably saw the locket in
Harry's vault when he brought Harry his money in HBP, but of course he
had no idea about its importance.


> bboyminn: <in another post>
> I found some information on the movie coins.
> 
> The Dimensions are as follows -
> 
> Galleon = 38.60 mm dia. = 1.52 inch

Neri:
This is highly unlikely, especially with your estimation of 5/64 inch
thick. Do you realize what would be the weight of the thousand
Galleons sack that Fudge gave Harry, and Harry gave the twins, in the
end of GoF? Here's my quick calculation: 

5/64 inch times 2.5 translates to 0.19 cm thick (Americans, please
forgive me that I prefer to work in the metric system). 

Half of a 3.86 cm diameter is a 1.93 cm radius. 

This means that the volume of each Galleon is 0.19*Pi*3.86^2= 2.28
cubic cm.

According to Wikipedia the density of gold is 19.3 gram/cubic cm, so
this would make the weight of each Galleon 2.28*19.3= 44.1 gram.

This would make the 1000 Galleons sack weight 44.1 Kg (I believe
somewhere around 100 lb for you Americans). I hardly see Harry
*lifting* it.

I recommend shaving both diameter and thickness of a Galleon by a
factor of at least two, which would decrease the weight of the sack by
a factor of four to just 11 Kg (about 25 lb), still quite hefty but
manageable.  


Neri