A Galleon or Gold-Galleon ( ʛ )[1] is the most valued coin of the wizarding currency used in Britain. One Galleon is equal to 17 Sickles or 493 Knuts. Galleons are made of gold.

Around the edge of each Galleon is a series of numerals representing a serial number referring to the goblin that cast the coin.[2]

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History

Early history

By the mid-thirteenth century, Galleons were already in circulation in wizarding Britain.[3]

In the 1260s, the Galleon had much more value than today: one Galleon at the time was equivalent to more than 6677ʛ today.[3]

Recent history

By the 20th century, the Galleon was worth far less than in the thirteenth century.[3] In 2001, one Galleon was equivalent to five Muggle pounds ($7.34[4]).[5]

Fake Galleons

Galleons made of Leprechaun gold were common at Quidditch games where Leprechauns are the mascots for the Irish team. These Galleons are occasionally in temporary circulation (they vanish a few hours after appearing), but goblin experts at Gringotts can differentiate them from real ones.

Rubeus Hagrid used Leprechaun gold fake Galleons at a 1995 Care of Magical Creatures class, while teaching students about Nifflers' ability to hunt for shiny objects like coins.

Hermione Granger fabricated fake Galleons for members of Dumbledore's Army as a means of conveying clandestine communication about the time of future meetings.

Ludo Bagman used Leprechaun gold to pay Fred and George Weasley after their bet resulting in them blackmailing Ludo with no luck. Bagman also paid several goblins with the same type of gold, but they caught on and made him suffer dearly.

Ronald Weasley paid Harry Potter back for a pair of omnioculars with Leprechaun gold, without realising that it wasn't real.

Exchange rates

1 Galleon UK Pound 4.93 US Dollar 6.64 Euro 5.58 Chinese Yuan 42.30 Australian Dollar 8.72 Russian Ruble 390.86 Romanian Leu 26.17 Bulgarian Lev 11.33 Japanese Yen 744.24 Canadian Dollar 8.43 Swiss Franc 6.48 Indonesian Rupiah 82010.08 Indian Rupee 428.61 Brazilian Real 21.64 Mexican Peso 126.71 New Zealand Dollar 8.76 Swedish Krona 55.52 Argentine Peso 114.39 Danish Krone 41.55 Polish Złoty 19.72 Hong Kong Dollar 51.88

Behind the scenes

The glossary on the Scholastic official site incorrectly states that there is no exchange rate from the Galleon into Muggle currency, despite an exchange rate being mentioned several times, and the fact that Muggle money can be exchanged for wizard currency being established in the books.

Translations

NB: currency units are not capitalised in Greek, Icelandic, Norwegian, Romanian or Spanish.

Albanian: Galeone

Bulgarian: галеони (galeoni)

Catalan: galeó (pl. galeons )

(pl. ) Chinese (PRC): 加隆

Chinese (Taiwan): 加隆

Croatian: Galeon (plural Galeoni)

(plural Galeoni) Czech: Galleony

Danish: Galleoner

Dutch: Galjoenen

Estonian: Galeoonid

Faroese: Gallónir

Finnish: Kaljuunat

French: Gallions

German: Galleonen

Greek, Modern: γαλέρες

Hebrew: אוניות

Hungarian: galleonok

Icelandic: galleonur

Irish: Gaileoin

Italian: galeoni

Japanese: ガリオン (Garion)

Latin: Gelleones

Latvian: Galeoni

Lithuanian: Galeonai

Low Saxon: Galleon (plural Galleonen )

(plural ) Norwegian: galleoner

Polish: galeony (singular: galeon )

(singular: ) Portuguese: galeões (singular: galeão )

(singular: ) Romanian: galioni (literal)

(literal) Russian: галлеоны

Serbian: галеони (galeoni)

Slovak: galeóny

Slovenian: guldi

Spanish: galeón (pl. galeones )

(pl. ) Swedish: Galleoner

Ukrainian: ґалеон (galeon)

Welsh: Galiwn, plural Galiynau

Appearances

See also