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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;KBBPLL, post: 25485311, member: 104064&quot;]Reading more thoroughly these posts by [USER=59677]@Burton Strauss III[/USER] and [USER=161676]@jrg79[/USER], I trust the chart more. Numbers for early coins are in multiples of grains and fractions of grains. A grain is 0.06479891 grams. 12.375 grains rounds to .802 grams, the original weight of the 3c. The tolerance, half a grain, is .032 rounded. So I&#039;m pondering why legislation would specify a 3/8 grain fraction in the coin weight. Anybody know? My hunch is that it&#039;s something to do with the specification of the alloy in relation to the coin value. The seated dollar is 412.50 grains, and the tolerance 1.5 grains, so the 3c fraction of that is exactly 12.375 grains. So the odd 3c fraction derives from the half-grain in the dollar spec. </p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m wondering how they would measure whether a 3c was below 11 and 7/8 grains. Did they really have weights in 1/8 grain increments, or a 12 grain weight and a pointer on the balance scale showing how far light or heavy? I couldn&#039;t find an image of an actual assay scale (or the weights) from the early mint. </p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s interesting how this stuff presumably goes back to Mesopotamia, where the measuring system was based on grains of barley, and they may have used physical grains[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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