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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;john-charles, post: 7964017, member: 75274&quot;]I also own coins that are overweight, meaning heavier compared to other specimens of the same issue or type. In antiquity, how did the master of the workshop ensure that each coins produced was of equal weight? It all started with the blanks before stamping. Experimental archeology seems to indicate that the only way to obtain calibrated weights is to melt a number of very small balls, the weight of which has itself been checked beforehand. These very small balls can be made by throwing molten metal into cold water through a screen.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>In the case of excessive weight, we can still lighten the flan before the strike, as we see on many republican coins reworked with the gouge. In practice, the control was not the same depending on the metal. To use medieval terminology, if the gold coins and probably silver were weighed <i>al pezzo</i>, meaning by the piece, the bronze coins were in turn weighed <i>al marco</i>, meaning together according to a number determined for a measure of weight (eg. Roman pounds). There was obviously a tolerance measure accepted for each of the emissions.</p><p><br /></p><p>In summary, the master of the workshop had to work according to a theoretical weight on the one hand, an emission tolerance on the other. He had to produce a determined number of coins from a unit of weight while ensuring, in the case of gold and silver, that the weight of each copy was not below a certain threshold.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p>They also used carob seeds which tend to weigh .2 grams in most cases.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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