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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;EWC3, post: 3189776, member: 93416&quot;]In my hasty look up I got the numbers right and the legend wrong&nbsp; &nbsp; : -(.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyhow - Ken is right about the weights from a collector&#039;s point of view, but there is a bit more to say from the point of view of the economics of it all.</p><p><br /></p><p>I just fished out a bag of similar coins that are to hand - this time Shao Sheng (!) 16.307-10.</p><p><br /></p><p>According to the traditional understanding the Tang fixed the Tael at 10 single cash - and it was about 41g.&nbsp; If you weight 10 early Kai Yuans you should find this to be correct.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have 34 of 16.307+ in front of me - and I put 10 on the scale and got 36g.&nbsp; Actually if I put all 34 on the scale the average is 36.1g.&nbsp; So the randomising effect of taking ten basically gives you the &quot;right answer&quot;.</p><p><br /></p><p>However if you weight them separately then the weight range is very big. From 2.9g to 4.2g. That is what &quot;al marco&quot; is all about. In this case the mint took a very exact number of catties of metal and cast a very exact number of cash from it. But they just did not care about the weight of the individual coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>Further, there has been a slow sort of inflation of the gross weight since Tang times - both in the standard of the tael, and the weight of the circulating coins - about 5 grams in total. Thus 12% over more than 4 centuries. (that now happens in 4 years - not 4 centuries - to GBP - sob sob)</p><p><br /></p><p>Rob T</p><p><br /></p><p>PS - will say something about Wade Giles etc in a new thread: Kuan Tzu vs Guanzi[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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