Coins





Coins are the most common form of currency in RuneScape. They can be used to represent the value of virtually every single item in the game, as well as various services offered throughout.

In RuneScape, coins appear as small gold nuggets, roughly cylindrical, and are stackable. For more information on the mechanics of stackable items in RuneScape, see Stackable items. In Grim Tales, it was revealed that coins have more intricate designs imprinted on their faces, although they usually appear small, making it difficult for players to notice it.

Not surprisingly, alchemy spells cannot be cast on coins. If a player attempts it, a message will inform the player that Coins are already made of gold.... You can, however, turn other gold items like Gold ore and Gold bars into coins.

Terminology
Beside "coins", players commonly refer to the RuneScape currency as gold, gold pieces or gp.

Larger denominations
One thousand (1000) coins is often referred to as 1K (k being short for kilo); one million (1 000 000) coins is often referred to as 1m or 1mil. Both can be applied to larger numbers, for example, "10M" refers to 10 million coins.

More rarely, 1B or 1Bil refers to one billion coins. However, as few players have this much money, this is rarely used. Due to RuneScape being encoded on Java, the maximum amount of coins allowed is 2 147 483 647. This can be expressed as 2³¹ -1 (2 to the 31st power minus 1). Due to this the maximum has been set by the game at 2 billion (2,147,483,647 being unintuitive to most players).

Uses of alternative terms in official RuneScape sources
Alternative terms for coins have seen seldom official usage in mainstream RuneScape since RuneScape Classic was replaced by RuneScape 2. Examples of exceptions include the following:




 * Bert's work rota quotes his wages as 50 GPs for a 16-hour day - that's barely more than 3 coins per hour


 * The brewer dwarf in Keldagrim says "GP" - the reason given is that (being a dwarf) he prefers to associate with gold at the expense of proper terminology


 * When the glassblower was added to Entrana, he always referred to coins as "gold pieces"


 * The descriptions of Low Level Alchemy and High Level Alchemy read "converts an item into gold" and "converts an item into more gold" respectively - the word "gold" here refers to coins, which are added to those already in the inventory when the player casts the spell




 * There is a portrait of Postie Pete on a stamp whose value is quoted as "59gp".


 * When attempting to pass through the gates to Al-Kharid, right-clicking upon the gate will give the player the option to spend "10 gp" to go through


 * The person at the banana plantation on Karamja says "I'll pay you 30 gold"


 * When a player uses the Grand Exchange to buy or sell item(s), the price per item is listed as an amount in gp


 * The silk trader in Al Kharid prices silk at "3gp" instead of "3 gold"


 * The official RuneScape manual refers to coins as "gold pieces" many times (for example, the Leather crafting guide quotes tanning costs in "gold pieces")

Use as a trade medium


Coins are the most often traded item; players prefer to trade their services or items for coins more often than for any other item.

Coin spawns

 * 3 coins respawn can be found from Varrock west bank basement, more can be telegrabbed from the locked room.
 * There are a few coin spawns in the room with Elvarg.
 * There are a few coin spawns in Taverley Dungeon near ghosts.
 * There are a few coin spawns in the Haunted Mine.
 * There are a few coin spawns in the King Black Dragon's den around the King Black Dragon.
 * There are a few coin spawns in the Asgarnian Ice Dungeon.
 * There are some 5-coin spawns in Varrock Sewers near the red spiders.
 * Asking Anja at Rimmington for some free stuff, will lead to a long dialogue, followed by Anja giving 1 to 3 coins.
 * There are coin spawns all over the wilderness
 * There are 7 coins that spawn in the Edgeville Dungeon

Buying RuneScape gold
Some players purchase RuneScape coins in exchange for real-world money using sites such as eBay. Although players can potentially gain monetary value within RuneScape by such means, this method strongly discouraged by Jagex for a few reasons:


 * Rule #12 of the RuneScape website forbids the trading of RuneScape items for items or services outside of RuneScape. Doing so can result in a permanent ban with no second chances.


 * Within RuneScape, there is a safe trading system that ensures both sides fulfil their end of the deal. Trading outside of RuneScape, however, increases the likelihood of another party stealing your real-world money and not fulfilling the terms of the trade.  Players who fall victim to this have no recourse from Jagex, and indeed will probably be banned if they admit to having participated in such practices.


 * Doing so is against the law in some countries. As your player and its items are the intellectual property of Jagex, you would be supporting the trade of "stolen" goods (similar in principle to buying/selling pirated software).