English Gold Weights

[woolshed]

About six weeks ago I found a Three Penny Weights on the goldfields and last week I detected a Two Penny Weights. It`s proof that the Miners actually sold or traded there Gold on the diggings as they found it.







The Three And Two Penny Weights side by side.





Do you find such things in the US.?

Both very small, My old detector works well.

Cheers, Woolshed.

 

[Joshr29]

Those are very cool! Would you mind explaining the story behind those in general? Like if the miners actually made them and what their primary purpose was. I am very interested in them. I have never seen anyone post anything like them so thank you for showing us!

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds woolshed.

 

[woolshed]

The Government of the day, England, known as the Crown made Standards for weights and measures. The weights that I found are stamped with, W.& T. A. The A is for Avery, the company that made the weights. They are stamped with a British registration diamond that gives the date of manufacture and date of approval by the Crown for there use. The crown is also stamped on the weight.
20 penny weights is equal to one troy ounce.
The Gold was sold to the Crown at a gold office that was set up on the Goldfields. It was than transported to the Treasury in Melbourne to build the wealth of the Nation that we have today.
Basically just a standard for weighing Gold.

Hope that explains it a little.

Cheers, Woolshed.

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hey Wooley

Here's a colonial-era lead weight I found in South Jersey a couple of months ago--it's pretty chunky at about 1/4" thick. I put it on the "What Is It?" forum and no one was able to give me an ID. The "I" shaped signature is pretty distinctive, though I don't know what it is. There's a hole that goes through it too.

Nice nice find on your penny weights!

 

[BuckleBoy]

I've never seen rectangular coin weights like those. I've seen square and round ones. We find them over here in the US occasionally at colonial era sites. Not much need to weigh coins once the US mints met demand by around the Civil War. Even before that, Spanish silver did not need to be weighed unless it was cut. So they are scarce finds, mainly from 1700s sites. I've not dug one, but I've detected many sites where one might've been found.

Erik--lead weights were used for things larger than coins. All the coin weights I've ever seen were brass.

Best Wishes,

Buck

 

[Erik in NJ]

Hi Buck, Any ideas on what this one might have been used for? I posted the exact weight on the original thread. Any ideas on the "numeral" or "design?"

 

[Wildcat1750]

Excellent and unique find...and tiny too!

 

[Steve in PA]

I have a coin weight that I found on a 1750s site in Pennsylvania. What's more I saw a weight identical to mine in a set of coin weights along with the scale that was used. This set was manufactured in France by a man who was producing them in the mid 18th century. I am not sure what the used to measure gold out west during the mid 19th century.

 

[kuger]

Yes we do find them....they come in all shapes and sizes.The nesting weights are most common.One must remember or know that these guys ,even though may have been finding loots of gold,were basically working just to get by.Everything was super inflated...camp spot was 2 oz a night,shovel was an oz. a pair of boots was three oz. a salted ham was 5 oz...the merchants were the ones that got rich.So yea,a fellow often weighed his days take to pay off partners or debts owed to any number of people

 

[kuger]

why cant I post pictures?

 

[kuger]

Chinese weights

 

[kuger]

I dont have pics loaded of your type,but I have amassed a pretty fair collection of them.I recently dug one with Chinese Characters on it which I thought was pretty "neat"

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Hi woolshed thanks very much for sharing your finds with us. Thats some lovely historical type items there for sure, doubt any will ever show up here, but what do they read out similar too?

 

[woolshed]

I dont have pics loaded of your type,but I have amassed a pretty fair collection of them.I recently dug one with Chinese Characters on it which I thought was pretty "neat"

Hi kuger, I like your Chinese scales and weights. To find a weight with Chinese characters would be neat. I have just added that to my wish list.

Cheers, Woolshed.

 

[kuger]

yes,it was a surprise!The Chinese "Opium",type scales were common in the gold fields obviously for the opium,but period journals state that they were actually superior to English scales in accuracy for weighing gold.I have dug the counter weights,and the single pans to them....the only metal parts to the scale

 

[jewelerguy]

excellent finds. those are really cool little pieces of history

 

[joesdigs]

Here is an Irish weight of VIII 1683

 

[CRUSADER]

I've seen bullion penny weights of this period posted from the US, but not this exact type. Nice finds!