If you needed any more convincing why living in the Harry Potter universe is better than whatever you have going on right now, here you go: it's kind of cheap.
Wizard currency -- sickles, knuts and galleons -- are mentioned throughout the series, but readers never really understood their value. Harry was rich, but just how rich? How deep in debt was the Weasley family? What would one have to shell out for a ride on the Knight Bus?
Now, thanks to the labors of Redditor aubieismyhomie, we have a better understanding of how far a galleon would really go. By comparing expenses in "Harry Potter" to how much things cost in the Muggle world, the Redditor deduced the approximate value of wizarding money compared to U.S. currency.
According to Hagrid in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, here's the breakdown of the exchange rates for wizard currency.
17 sickles = 1 galleon
29 knuts = 1 sickle
493 knuts = 1 galleon
Got it? OK, moving on. Some of the things Harry, Ron and Hermione buy throughout the seven books aren't just available in the magical realm -- candy, beer, textbooks, etc. -- so when compared to the prices of their Muggle equivalents, we can nail down a handy conversion rate.
Galleon = ~ $25.00
Sickles = ~ $1.50
Knuts = $0.05
According to the Redditor, this had big implications for our understanding of the wizarding world.
"Based on this, a Butterbeer from the Hog's Head would be about $3 (as would hot chocolate on the Knight Bus), Harry bought about $18 of candy on the Hogwarts Express in his first year, and a high-level textbook costs about $175 (which Harry complained about how expensive it was)," the Redditor explained.
That also means that Harry bought his wand for just $175. We can see the commercial now: One wand from Ollivanders? $175. A lifetime of magical power? Priceless.
Using this information, we can better understand the socio-economic status of characters like the Weasley family, who struggled under the financial burden of supporting seven children.
"In Chamber of Secrets, the Weasleys completely emptied their vault, which consisted of 1 galleon and a pile of sickles, which could be equated from $50 to $75, and they had to buy everyone books, plus robes, a wand and cauldron for Ginny, etc. It didn't really hit me until now just how hard the 50-galleon fine for the Flying Ford Anglia hit the family."
Harry, on the other hand, was kind of loaded, spending $750 to buy Omnioculars for himself, Ron and Hermione at the World Cup and donating his $25,000 in Triwizard Tournament winnings to fund Fred and George's joke shop.
Do we believe this theory? Other Redditors were quick to point out that J.K. Rowling herself has already revealed that one galleon is around five British pounds, which comes out to about $7, using the exchange rate at the time.
Whether you're a Muggle or a wizard, money makes the world go 'round.
Head over to the Reddit thread to find out how much other things like a unicorn horn or a skull in Borgin & Burkes would cost you.
h/t: BuzzFeed
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