The standard unit of money in Dragaera is the Imperial Gold Piece (or simply "Imperial"). This is a gold coin consisting of one Imperial Ounce of Gold; or one seventeenth of an Imperial pound.
Smaller denominations are:
- The "Orb" (A silver coin, at the rate of seventeen Orbs to the Imperial)
- The "copper" (a copper coin, likely at the rate of seventeen coppers to the Orb)
A working commoner in Adrilankha makes (on rough estimate) from five to seventeen Imperials per month. Jhereg Enforcers and Assassins typically earn much more than this. It is implied that impoverished Teckla and Easterners are able to survive on perhaps as little as 1 or 2 Imperials per month.
The Imperial is typically stamped with the face of the current Emperor of Dragaera.
Typically, an orb will bear a serioli symbol of the number of the cycle in which it was struck, with a small mark to indicate the House that was in power at the time. The obverse side will typically show the face of the Lord in whose demesne the coin was struck, or else that of the Emperor.
There have also been private mintings of gold coins, although the legality of such coins has varied over time. During Vlad's lifetime, these have been outlawed by the Empress, making it largely unprofitable to steal such coins as most of the profit is eaten up in paying someone to melt down and re-cast the gold into a sellable form.
It is unclear what (if anything) was used for currency between different regions of the Empire during the Interregnum. Likely, older coins were still in circulation from Tortaalik's reign, but given the average life of coinage, it seems likely that local lords (such as Kâna) may have struck their own currency in the years leading up to the restoration of the Empire.
Still, at least some coins from the seventeenth Jhegaala reign were still in circulation in Southmoor at the end of the Interregnum.
Barter was likely also in common practice during the Interregnum.
In the 156th year of the Interregnum, the Eastern (Fenarian (language)) town of Blackchappel used a coin called a fennick. In blackchapel, one could get a room, meal and bath for fourteen fennick. This translated to about nine pennies in the coinage of Esania, another Eastern village about twenty miles distant.