Coins

Coins are the currency of Terraria. They can be crafted, but only through conversions of other coins.

Obtaining coins
Players can get coins by killing monsters, destroying ancient urns, found in chests or selling things to NPCs. With coins you can buy things from the merchant and other NPCs.

Each coin tier is 100 of the previous. 100 copper is one silver, 100 silver is one gold, etc.

Coin types
Coins come in different types: Curiously, Platinum is not a mineral that can be found in ore/bar form, making it a mystery as to where the coins come from.

Crafting and value
Coins can be crafted to and from other coin types. It takes 100 coins to upgrade, and you get 100 coins when downgrading
 * 100 copper equals 1 silver
 * 100 silver equals 1 gold
 * 100 gold equals 1 platinum
 * 1 gold equals 10,000 copper
 * 1 platinum equals 1,000,000 coppers

Death
Upon death, half of all the stacks you have of coins in your inventory will be dropped. EG. if you have 1 gold in one stack, you will lose it but if you have 12 you will lose 6. However, there has been instances where people have kept their 1 gold coin when they died. You will still lose the coins even if they are in regular inventory slots. They can be recovered if the player is able to find the location where they died. Please note: As of update 1.0.2 you do not lose any of your money in your inventory when you die as a result of self-thrown explosives. Conformation is needed on whether this was the case beforehand. It is always a possibility that this will change in the future.

Storage
Coins can be stored in Chests or in a Piggy Bank. Coins placed in one of these containers will not be lost when you die.

It was also verified that, if the player is holding a type of coin with the cursor upon death, then said coins will not be dropped, and will be dropped in your spawn point upon respawning.