What is the Currency Conversion in ATLA?
Six years ago, I replied to a post about money in ATLA. However, while I was able to cover many aspects of Chinese currency history, I still couldn't find a solid exchange rate between gold, silver, and copper. Welp! I've finally found what I've been looking for.
I just came across this piece of information on the Wikipedia article for Sycee (Chinese ingots):
During the Tang dynasty, a standard bi-metallic system of silver and copper coinage was codified with 10 silver coins equal to 1,000 copper cash coins.
The source for this tidbit of information comes from the book, The Stewart Lockhart Collection of Chinese Copper Coins by Sir James Haldane Stewart Lockhart. Here is the actual entry from the 1915 edition of the book (Page XI of the Introduction):
"The standard introduced by the Tang dynasty and continuing in theory until today... in value, 1 gold -- 10 silver -- 1,000 copper, these being the metallic exchange equivalents in China thirteen centuries ago."
I think we've found a good inspiration for the coin conversion system in ATLA:
1 gold coin = 10 silver coins = 1,000 copper coins
The average weight of a coin during the Tang Dynasty was about 4 grams. The Waterbending Scroll stolen from the pirates was valued at 200 gold coins. According to this website here, as of May 2026, a gram of gold is worth about $152 USD. Meaning...
The Waterbending Scroll would be worth $121,600 USD in today's money.
Katara basically stole the scroll equivalent to a 2026 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Sedan:
Good thing she stole from pirates, because I'm pretty sure that's a felony...
