Two Drachms ???

[Leon]

Hello all,,,
I'm hoping someone could tell me what I have found here. It's just a hair larger than a nickel in both diameter, and in thickness. It Reads, "Two Drachms" across the top, it has something like , " 3 11 " in the center, and an, "M" inside of a diamond on the bottom... The reverse is about the same, as far as I can tell...

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Leon

 

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[PBK]

Hi, Leon...

It's an apothecary weight, used on pharmacist's scales. 2 drachms = 1/4 troy ounce. Weights like this were used from the 1800's until around 50 years ago, when electronic scales replaced the old balance type. Most of these weights resemble coins or tokens, and they came in sets of various weights: drachms, scruples, etc. The "M-in-diamond" mark is that of John Maris (a..k.a. John M. Maris & Co.) of Philadelphia, PA. Here's a link to more info:

http://users.pullman.com/fjstevens/tokens/weights/index.html

 

[Leon]

Thank you very much, PBK...
Looks like a positive ID. It would have probably taken me quite awhile to figure that one out, as I was looking for Greek coins, and having no luck with that... Apothecary weights, used on pharmaceutical scales does have some significants to the site...
Thanks again,,,
Good luck, & Happy hunting~