🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Small Mystery brass piece

[Tinman]

Not sure what this thin,1/2 “x.1/2“ brass piece is? Maybe either a stamp or scale weight? Not sure? Old colonial ground.

 

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[Red-Coat]

Interesting. I believe that’s an apothecary weight. The symbol used for the ‘scruple’ is this: ℈, which may or may not have serifs,

Numerals for unit quantity are usually expressed in lower case Latin as I, ii, iii and so on. However the letters i and j were regarded as interchangeable in olden times and so the digit i was often expressed as j, particularly when it’s the terminal digit. So, the number two was often expressed as ij, three as iij, four as iiij and so on.

It’s clearer in the second picture, but what looks like a y is, I think, the result of the i and j being stylistically conjoined. They’re then further conjoined with the ‘scruple’ symbol. Something like this:

If it is a two scruple weight, it should be 2.6 grams.

 

[pepperj]

Interesting. I believe that’s an apothecary weight. The symbol used for the ‘scruple’ is this: ℈, which may or may not have serifs,

Numerals for unit quantity are usually expressed in lower case Latin as I, ii, iii and so on. However the letters i and j were regarded as interchangeable in olden times and so the digit i was often expressed as j, particularly when it’s the terminal digit. So, the number two was often expressed as ij, three as iij, four as iiij and so on.

It’s clearer in the second picture, but what looks like a y is, I think, the result of the i and j being stylistically conjoined. They’re then further conjoined with the ‘scruple’ symbol. Something like this:

View attachment 2106844

If it is a two scruple weight, it should be 2.6 grams.

That's what I thought it was also.
Great explanation 👌

 

[CRUSADER]

Yeap for weighing medicines

 

[BuckleBoy]

Interesting. I believe that’s an apothecary weight. The symbol used for the ‘scruple’ is this: ℈, which may or may not have serifs,

Numerals for unit quantity are usually expressed in lower case Latin as I, ii, iii and so on. However the letters i and j were regarded as interchangeable in olden times and so the digit i was often expressed as j, particularly when it’s the terminal digit. So, the number two was often expressed as ij, three as iij, four as iiij and so on.

It’s clearer in the second picture, but what looks like a y is, I think, the result of the i and j being stylistically conjoined. They’re then further conjoined with the ‘scruple’ symbol. Something like this:

View attachment 2106844

If it is a two scruple weight, it should be 2.6 grams.

Correct. And I’ll add that the reason the last i was turned into a j was to stop people from altering a prescription nefariously (like turning a “1” into a “7” on a check to get more money)