Galleon

Galleon or Gold-Galleon
Object information
Usage	Wizarding currency
Owners	Gringotts Wizarding Bank Most British wizard and witches

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

Around the edge of each Galleon was a series of numerals which represented a serial number referring to the goblin that cast the coin.

History

Early history

"According to Madam Rabnott, Bragge brought a caged Snidget to the match and told the assembled players that he would award one hundred and fifty Galleons (equivalent to over a million Galleons today) to the player who caught it during the course of the game."

— History of the Galleon

A Galleon Heads (right) and Tails (left)

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

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

Recent history

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

Fake Galleons

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

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

Fake DA Galleons

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	6.53
Euro	5.78
Chinese Yuan	41.60
Australian Dollar	9.16
Russian Ruble	483.28
Romanian Leu	28.62
Bulgarian Lev	11.31
Ukrainian Hryvnia	178.13
Japanese Yen	743
Canadian Dollar	8.44
Swiss Franc	6.02
Indonesian Rupiah	93278.68
Indian Rupee	495.53
Israeli New Sheqels	20.61
Brazilian Real	37.19
Mexican Peso	136.19
New Zealand Dollar	9.72
Swedish Krona	59.73
Argentine Peso	665.51
Danish Krone	42.99
Polish Złoty	26.90
Hong Kong Dollar	50.93
Vietnam Dong	149,759

See also

• Sickle
• Knut
• Wizarding currency

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)
• Chinese (Simplified): 加隆
• Chinese (Traditional): 加隆
• Croatian: Galeon (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)
• Norwegian: galleoner
• Polish: galeony (singular: galeon)
• Portuguese: galeões (singular: galeão)
• Romanian: galioni (literal)
• Russian: галлеоны
• Serbian: галеони (galeoni)
• Slovak: galeóny
• Slovenian: guldi
• Spanish: galeón (pl. galeones)
• Swedish: Galleoner
• Ukrainian: ґалеон (galeon)
• Welsh: Galiwn, plural Galiynau

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
• Pottermore
• Harry Potter (website) (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book (Mentioned only)
• Harry Potter Trading Card Game
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• Fantastic Beasts: Cases from the Wizarding World
• Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery (Mentioned only)