Platinum

Platinum was a rare silvery-white metal sometimes used as a currency in the Realms. Its value was generally greater than gold.

History
Larger and more powerful cities and states used platinum pieces as currency throughout the ages. Most commonly, Cormyr, Waterdeep, and Amn would mint and circulate platinum currency within their own cities. In contrast, platinum pieces were not regularly used in Zakhara and were very rare to find.

Platinum was often used in decoration as a sign of wealth and status. One examples of this was King Osaw I's use of platinum decoration on his armor to represent his rank as king.

Properties
Platinum was a heavy yet malleable metal which resembled aluminum in appearance.

Applications
While rarer than other grades of coin, platinum was most commonly used in currency. It was also used in crafting; such uses include armor, weapons , jewelry , & magic items as well as the casting of some spells which required platinum as components. Platinum was also in construction and in decoration.

Platinum was even used as food by Foo Dogs but this was not common among other creatures.

Currency
Most coins in Faerûn worked off of the silver and gold standard, with copper pieces (cp) being worth 1/100th of a gold piece (gp) and Silver pieces (sp) being worth 1/10 of a gp. Electrum coins were worth 5 sp, and platinum coins were worth 10 gp.

While platinum coins were reasonably rare across the Forgotten Realms, they were popular among adventurers and in busier trade cities.

In Cormyr platinum coins were known as tricrowns, while in the Windrise Ports a platinum piece was called a splendor.

Elves within Cormanthyr would trade in fine platinum pieces they called ruendils. Other coins found within the empire included Myth Drannor's yulthaari; five-inch-long metal tubes crafted of platinum. These were worth the equiverlent of three platinum pieces due to their metal content. Myth Drannor also traded and used platinum coins shaped into a teardrop called 'sheelba'.

The roldon was a planinum coin used in Amn, informally referred to as the 'pearl'. While it was technically used as currency, it was noted that using these coins was a show of wealth.

In Calimshan, a variety of individual mints and coins were used and traded interchangeably, including a variety of platinum pieces. These included Calimport's kilarche coin, Manshaka's djendjen coin, Volothamp's mandrille, & Keltar's redoline piece.

Platinum pieces were often called 'suns' in Waterdeep, not to be confused with their unique currency, the Harbor moon; a platinum coin in the shape of a flat crescent, with a central hole and electrum inlay. Typically these coins were worth around 50gp in Waterdeep, but only 30gp outside the city.

Coins were not the only form of platinum currency however; bars of platinum worth around 25 gold were used as universal tender among Lantan merchants.

While Sembia did not actively produce platinum coins, they did accept this currency from other nations. In place of platinum pieces, they instead minted electrum pieces known as blue-eyes.

Weapons and Armor
Due to its malleability, platinum's rigidity would be magically altered when crafting weapons and armor so that it more resembled steel.

Platinum was used in crafting weaponry to symbolise rank and for additional protection or to inflict more damage. Platinum weapons would be heavy and somewhat unwieldy but were crafted in such as way as to symbolise rank and to inflict more damage. Elves of Myth Drannor used platinum to craft enchanted arrowheads.

Similarly, armor could be plated with platinum as decoration or for additional protection. Armor crafted from platinum would provide the wearer with cold and sonic resistance.

Treatment
When treated, platinum armor would grant cold and sonic resistance to its wearer, while magically treated armors would weigh twice as much as steel, would have a hardness of ten and provided thirty hit points per inch of it's thickness.

There were many instances where platinum was enchanted for use, such as the Helm Of Gazes and the Ring Of Creation.

Notable Mines

 * Mines of Dekanter
 * Established by the Netherese in the Silver age, these mines were located east of the Greypeak Mountains.


 * Mithral Pits
 * Located in the Underdark and often guarded by aboleths.


 * Thaymount
 * As of 1357 DR, a prominent mine in Thay that produced silver and platinum.


 * Sunrise Mountains
 * A Thay mine that, as of 1357 DR, was a good source of copper, iron, silver and platinum.