Coin weights

British coin weights introduced from the Arabs through the Vikings, 9-10th century CE. British Museum.

Coin weights are weights which were designed to weigh coins in order to assure their quality.^[1]

The usage of coin weights, especially glass ones, goes back to Ptolemaic and Byzantine times.^[1] Coin weights were also known in Ancient China.^[2]

In Islamic civilization, where they are called Sanadjāt, coin weights are said to have been introduced by a Jew named Sumair in 694.^[1] Up to that point coins were only compared to other coins considered as of good quality.^[1] Islamic coin weights were made of bronze, iron, and later glass (considered to be unalterable).^[1] They bear inscriptions related to Islamic rulers and monayers and are therefore valuable epigraphical objects.^[1]

Coins weights were also known in the Carolingian Empire, where they were stamped with regular coin dyes to clarify their attribution.^[3] Islamic coin weights were introduced to Great Britain in the 9-10th century CE through the Vikings.^[4]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 by T.W. Arnold p.195
2. ^ Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires by Walter Scheidel p.144
3. ^ Carolingian coinage and the Vikings by Simon Coupland p.38
4. ^ British Museum exhibit