Mithril vs. the Arkenstone

[Maeglin]

I have a quick question, but when you answer it please give me some support from the books to back up your answer, because I've found a lot of things that I will post that could send this either way. Anyway, the question is: which had more value? The Arkenstone or Mithril?

On the one hand we have Thorin wanting the Arkenstone more than anything, right here:

"For the Arkenstone of my father," he said, "is worth more than a river of gold in itself, and to me it is beyond price. That stone of all the treasure I name unto myself, and I will be avenged on anyone who finds it and with-holds it."

And that seems to put the Arkenstone in higher value than Mithril as we can see here:

With that he put on Bilbo a small coat of mail, wrought for some young elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel, which the elves call mithril, and with it went a blet of pearls and crystals.

Now I would assume that if Thorin were putting a coat of mithril on Bilbo but wanted the Arkenstone to himself, then the Arkenstone had more value, but perhaps that is only Thorin's opinion of it, as we can see from LotR that other dwarves most likely wanted mithril more than anything else.

"For mithril," answered Gandalf. "The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: all things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: mithril is the Elvish name. The Dwarves have a name which they do not tell. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above the ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. The lodes lead away north towards Caradhras, and down to darkness. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as mithril was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane. Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it.
"Mithril! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than temperd steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of mithril did not tarnish or grow dim. The Elves dearly loved it, and among many uses they made of it ithildin, starmoon, which you saw upon the doors. Bilbo had a corslet of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him. I wonder what has become of it? Gathering dust still in Michel-Delving Mathom-house, I suppose."
"What?" cried Gimli, startled out of his silence. "A corslet of Moria-silver? That was a kingly gift!"
"Yes," said Gandalf. "I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the whole Shire and everything in it."

Okay so perhaps this doesn's say bluntly that Mithril had more value than the Arkenstone, but I assume that the arkenstone wasn't worth more than the entire Shire, but I really cannot know for sure. So.....I am lost for an answer, can anyone help me out on this one?

 

[BlackCaptain]

Sorry I don't have any quotes, but the Arkenstone really holds sentimental value with Thorin. It's been a heirloom in his family for only Eru knows (and mabey ithrynluin )how many generations. Thorin probly values it so highly for that reason. Not to downsize it's value, but if a small coat of Mithril is worth more than an entire countryside and everything in it, I wonder how much an entire hoard of Mithril would be worth.

 

[Feanorian]

Eru knows (and mabey ithrynluin )

and of course Aule.

I too do not have any specific quotes from the books, because it seems there is not any. The Arkenstone is not mentioned after the Hobbit(to my knowledge) unlike Mithril which is the most valuable stone or material in M-E, it seems you cannot compare the two because one was an heirloom and the other was a stone, if the Arkenstone was a raw stone like Gold, Silver, or Mithril then it could have been worth more possibly.

 

[Lantarion]

I would say that mithril is more valuable, but nothing to support that.
It's just that if the Arkenstone had been the most valuable stone, or among the most valuable in Middle-earth, I think it would have been mentioned more often, and more weightily.

 

[Ithrynluin]

The Arkenstone is a precious artifact in itself of course, but it holds so much importance to Thorin because of the sentimental value, like BlackCaptain said already. Thorin does say "and to me it is beyond price". We can't possibly compare the value of one artifact to the abundance of mithril that was a priceless metal.

 

[Aulë]

Originally posted by Feanorian
and of course Aule.

Hmm, how did you know that I knew?

The Arkenstone was discovered in Erebor by Thrain I soon after the establishment of the Dwarf-kingdom there, and prized by his descendants as the Heart of the Mountain.

Nearly a thousand years after its discovery by Thráin I, the Arkenstone was buried once more in the depths beneath the Lonely Mountain on the breast of Thorin in his tomb.

So therefore the Arkenstone was an heirloom of Thorin's family for 9 generations.

 

[BlackCaptain]

Hahaha... It's amazing the Eruish qualities some members show here...

 

[Maerbenn]

Relevant quotes:

From Appendix A:

Most of these that escaped made their way into the North, and Thráin I, Náin's son, came to Erebor, the Lonely Mountain, near the eastern eaves of Mirkwood, and there he began new works, and became King under the Mountain. In Erebor he found the great jewel, the Arkenstone, Heart of the Mountain.

From Appendix B:

1999 Thráin I comes to Erebor and founds a dwarf-kingdom 'under the Mountain'.

 

[YayGollum]

I'll go for the Arkenstone. just to be different. I doubt that the silmarils would be thought of as toys to the Dwarves. Those were jewels and the Dwarves knew about them. Besides, Thorin isn't crazy. He knows how much the mithril was worth. He had plenty of the stuff. The Arkenstone was more valuable because there was only one. It seemeed to me to be that the Arkenstone had some kind of crazy power like the silmarils, too. Where everybody likes the thing for some creepy reason.

 

[Feanorian]

Hmm, how did you know that I knew?

Well you are a Valar aren't you, with knowledge and skill just less then Melko I do hear.

 

[Inderjit S]

Well you are a Valar aren't you, with knowledge and skill just less then Melko I do hear.

His knowledge of 'Encyclopedia of Arda' is also great methinks...