Strange Currencies for salticidae
Merry Secret GLOGmas! I was assigned callmesalticidae, who I noticed had posted this question in the GLOG grotto of the purple server but didn't receive much in the way of answers.
Well, ok. Here's some weird / magical currency ideas.
True Candles! Enchanted candles which burn at a consistent rate of 1 inch/hour. A True Candle burns as brightly as a torch, and cannot be blown out except by the person who lit it. Easy to cut into smaller denominations with a knife, slightly more finicky to stick back together. Favored by dungeon delvers, most will trade a 12-inch candle for a week of rations.
Weighted coins, which are somehow twice as heavy when resting tails-up than heads-up. The gold coin's heads-face is exactly the same weight as the silver coin's tails-face, and so on.
Thin glass discs, each inscribed with a unique pattern. Nobody knows why they were originally created, but they're used as coins now because the technology no longer exists to forge more. Rarer features within a coin's pattern may increase the coin's perceived value to some, but most establishments treat them all as equal. Some say there is symbolism within the patterns and have developed a method of augury which involves overlaying coins to combine their patterns.
Faerie Gold! One of the first things I think of when I think of magical currency. These are leaves or rocks enchanted to look like gold coins, usually intended as a prank on some poor mortal. Upon spending faerie gold, it reverts to its original state. However, a savvy merchant isn't upset by this. If a rock or leaf that used to be faerie gold is left outside under a new moon, the glamer is fully restored until it's spent again. These "coins" are particularly valuable to wizards and abhorred by priests.
Soul-feathers. It's definitely blasphemous to steal one from a psychopomp. But with enough money laundering these feathers find their way into the hands of clergy, who use these to precisely measure how sinful someone is while they're still alive. First, a person is weighed against simple lead weights, then they leave the scale and feathers are placed on in their place until balanced with the lead. Then, the lead weights are removed and the person steps back onto the other side; the disparity observed is the difference between their corporeal weight and the weight of their soul.
Dungeon scrip. Shit out by mimics. This is how an evil overlord pays their underlings. Of absolutely no value outside of the dungeon it comes from.
Gladiator trading cards. Long ago, and emperor decreed that 100 be put into circulation every time a gladiator wins a sanctioned fight. But this policy actually led to the cards of more successful fighters actually being less valuable. Gromlor the Indomitable cards are common chaff, chase rares are for guys who won exactly once and then died. Thurm the Hairy, Zendak the Haunted, etc.