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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;FitzNigel, post: 2430701, member: 74712&quot;]As for the weight system, I would say &#039;sloppy.&#039;&nbsp; They were rarely precise in the Middle Ages, particularly early on.&nbsp; I would image the weight has also &#039;lost weight&#039; over the course of a thousand years.&nbsp; If the weight is rounded up to 36 grams, then 12 of them gets close to a pound.&nbsp; There was a point when the accounting of England was 20d. To a shilling, then 12s. To the pound.&nbsp; At some pound the Anglo-Saxon period, the two were reversed (12d = 1s., 20s. = £), but unfortunately I can&#039;t remember when that happens.&nbsp; If this is pre-reform, then I would suspect it&#039;s was a weight used in accounting to represent a shilling (think of them counting like an abacus).&nbsp; It&#039;s weighing as much as a shilling was probably due to the lack of a money economy, and could be used to weigh out a shilling&#039;s equivalent of silver.</p><p><br /></p><p>I should state I have done no research in this, and the above is pure supposition.&nbsp; I have researched the 12th century exchequer quite a bit though, and I would think the &#039;abacus&#039; method used there could reasonably be used in a different fashion earlier.&nbsp; It&#039;s a wonderfully interesting piece though!&nbsp; I was interested in it in the auction (not to purchase, just curious!) and am quite glad someone here got it![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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