We know what
Bilbo did with his share of
the trolls’ hoard. Cf. this dialogue between
Merry and
Frodo in “Flight to the Ford” from
Fellowship of the Ring:
“There!” said Merry. “That must be the stone that marked the place where the trolls’ gold was hidden. How much is left of Bilbo’s share, I wonder, Frodo?”
Frodo looked at the stone, and wished that Bilbo had brought home no treasure more perilous, nor less easy to part with. “None at all,” he said. “Bilbo gave it all away. He told me he did not feel it was really his, as it came from robbers.”
So nothing was left of the trolls’ hoard. As for the treasure he received from
Smaug’s hoard,
Bilbo took “only … two small chests, one filled with silver, and the other with gold, such as one strong pony could carry.” (
The Hobbit, “The Return Journey”) We know that Bilbo also gave the
Elvenking “a necklace of silver and pearls that Dáin had given him at their parting,” (
ibid.) so it is possible that Bilbo received some other small token of appreciation; but if so, he was unlikely to part with it, and there was surely no market in the North outside
Lindon in which he could convert even the necklace of pearls into any substantial wealth.
Bilbo was already independently wealthy or well-to-do (not wealthy but not worried about money) before his great adventure with
Thorin & Co. That probably consisted mostly of land and property: the residents of Bagshot Row likely rented from him (though perhaps the
Gaffer was allowed to live for free or at a reduced rate: some arrangement was likely struck between gardener’s pay and rent) and agricultural property. He might, perhaps have owned and rented out property in
Hobbiton, or even have inherited from his mother some modest stipend from the
Tooks (or not, depending upon arrangements in Hobbit society in
the Shire). By the end of
The Hobbit when
Gandalf and
Balin came to visit, “
Mr. Baggins’ waistcoat was more extensive (and had real gold buttons).”
The Fellowship of the Ring begins by relating that Bilbo had “(reputedly) inexhaustible wealth[,] … was generous with his money, … and … had many devoted admirers among the
hobbits of poor and unimportant families.” Why would Bilbo have “many devoted admirers among the hobbits of poor and unimportant families”? Ah! I think because he “was generous with his money” but putting it to good use in supporting and assisting them in hard times. Near the end of
The Return of the King, “he gave [Sam] a little bag of gold. ‘Almost the last drop of the Smaug vintage,’ he said. ‘May come in useful, if you think of getting married,
Sam.’”
Note also what gifts he gave at his and Frodo’s great party: “The poorer hobbits, and especially those of Bagshot Row, did very well.” But “All the chief treasures, as well as the
books, pictures, and more than enough furniture, were left in [Frodo’s] possession. There was, however, no sign nor mention of money or jewelry: not a penny-piece or a glass bead was given away.” We are not told what comprised “the chief treasures,” perhaps silver (such as those silver spoons Lobelia coveted!), fine china, and other such household
items, as well as “several small (but rather valuable) articles that had somehow fallen inside [Lobelia’s] umbrella,” none of which are further described.
Barliman Butterbur was out 30 silver pennies when the
horses were stolen from his stables at
The Prancing Pony. To put that into perspective, if these were identical to Anglo-Saxon silver pennies, one-twentieth of a troy ounce, that would be the modern-day equivalent of US$27, £21, or €24.25. (That’s C$35.5 to you Canucks, A$39 to you Aussies, and NZ$42 to you Kiwis. 😉 At least at current exchange rates, which every
dragon uses.) If they were
Roman denarii from around the time of Christ, they’d be worth 3.2 times more; but the denarius was an ever-shrinking coin from the days of the Republic to the end of the Western Empire. But it is unlikely anyone was minting coins after the end of the kingdom of Arthedain and the ruin of Fornost, Deadmen’s Dike in Bilbo’s day. But if the Dúnedain minted full troy-ounce coins, Butterbur might have been out twenty times as much – and that seems to me a much more likely situation. (We are not told what weights the Dúnedain used, or the weights of their coins.)
I think Bilbo used his treasure first to buy back his own property after the auction he interrupted; next to purchase himself some delicacies and finer items than were generally available in the Shire (perhaps often through his friends, the
Dwarves), but mostly to quietly help his poorer neighbors, which earned their devotion and respect. Everything else he left to Frodo, and Frodo then to Sam. By the time he departed
Middle-earth with Gandalf and Frodo, it seems nothing of his material wealth remained with him. And really, that is as it should be.
