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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Antiquities| ▸ |Antiquities by Type| ▸ |Weights & Scales||View Options:   | | | Weights are among the more common objects of the ancient and medieval world. Weights and a balance were essential for measuring quantities of many commodities and for evaluating coins. Probably the most common class of weights are those for evaluating coins. Balance weights were made of metal (most often bronze or lead), glass, or stone. If the mass of any small solid object conforms to an appropriate weight unit, it is likely to be a balance weight. Many excavated weights have been wrongly identified as game pieces or tokens. |
AS111511. Judah, limestone dome 8 shekels weight; cf. Tushingham fig. 79, 6 (91.87g); Hecht A 22 (92.90g), Hendin Weights 191 (91.0g, pink limestone), Choice, 90.151g, 42.4mm diameter, 33.5mm high, pre-exile, 800 - 586 B.C.; creamy white limestone, inscribed
(8 shekels) in hieratic on top; ex Shick Coins (Max Shick, Israel, 2013); rare; SOLDPtolemaic Egypt, Lead Weight of 8 Ptolemaic Silver Drachms (28.599g), 162 - 30 B.C.
This weight shares the same value side die with a 35.71 g weight from Kunker auction 182, lot 403. The Kunker example has a Ptolemy VI, Kiton mint, year 20 (162/1 B.C.), tetradrachm reverse type instead of the Athens tetradrachm obverse type on our example. Click to see the Kunker weight. The shared die suggest that the two weight types were manufactured in pairs and, despite the difference in weight, were used to weigh an equal value of silver. Our weight with Athena's head would have been used to weigh eight pre-170 B.C. drachms with a higher silver standard (the greater purity symbolized by the Athens tetradrachm). The Kunker weight would have been used to weigh ten post-170 B.C. debased Ptolemaic silver drachms, which had a value equal to eight of the older purer drachms.AS84035. Lead weight, VF, pierced horizontally on the edge for stringing and suspension, weight 28.599 g, maximum diameter 27.4 mm, die axis 270o, Ptolemaic mint, 162 - 30 B.C.; obverse head of Athena right, wearing a crested helmet ornamented with a floral scroll and olive leaves (imitative of Athens "old style" tetradrachms); reverse monogram, over H (8) AΣ (abbreviating AΣ[ΗMI]=silver(?), Σ reversed), over P; ex Roma e-sale 21, lot 1134; SOLD
Judah, Limestone Dome Weight, 24 Shekels (Fragment, 113.239g), 800 - 586 B.C.
Robert Deutsch identified this as a 20 shekel weight, uncertain of the full weight, but according to David Hendin 20 shekel dome weights are not known to exist. Also, in his Excavations in Jerusalem, Tushingham lists a similar creamy white limestone 24 shekel dome weight with the same symbol, and at 268.3g, it is clearly a 24 shekel weight. Yohanan Aharoni in "The Use of Hieratic Numerals in Hebrew Ostraca and the Shekel Weights" discusses another 24 shekel weight with the same symbols (fig. 2c), and describes the use of these symbols for 24 shekels as "unique." Apparently it is not unique, but it is undoubtedly extremely rare.AS111510. Judah, dome 24 shekel weight fragment; Tushingham fig. 79, 9 (whole, 268.3g, same hieratic mark); see Aharoni Hieratic p. 16, fig. 2c, Choice, but a fragment of about 42% of the original weight; 113.239g, 53.5mm diameter, 40.8mm high, pre-exile, 800 - 586 B.C.; carved creamy white limestone dome, hieratic
(24 shekels) inscribed on top; ex Archaeological Center (Robert Deutsch, Tel Aviv, Israel), auction 51 (17 Oct 2011), lot 71; extremely rare; SOLDEgyptian, Limestone Phallic Weight, Middle Kingdom, XII Dynasty, 1991 - 1786 B.C.
From the collection of Alex G. Malloy, former dealer in antiquities for 40 years.
Ex Khayat collection. AM33388. Weight; Egyptian Art and Artifacts, Summer 1980 by Alex G. Malloy 109; cf. Petrie Weights and Measures 919, Choice, 40 x 60 mm, carved white limestone, phallic with flat back; very rare; SOLD
Judah, Limestone Weight, 5 Gerah (2.549g), c. 7th Century B.C.
A gerah is an ancient Hebrew unit of weight and currency, which, according to the Torah (Exodus 30:13, Leviticus 27:25, Numbers 3:47, 18:16), was equivalent to 1/20 of a standard "sacred" shekel. This weight was 1/5th of a 12.745g shekel. Many of the references we hold list 4 gerah specimens but 5 gerah weights appear to be extremely rare. Kletter 1998, p. 244, identifies a specimen in the Hecht Museum in Haifa, but does not describe it. Munz Zentrum auction XXXII (1978), lot 45, is a 5 gerah, limestone dome weight.AS111508. Judaean, limestone 5 gerah "cupcake-shaped" weight; cf. Kletter 1998, p. 244, Hecht Museum H-2380; Hendin Weights -; Tushingham -, Choice, 2.549g, 13.0mm diameter, 9.4mm high, pre-exile, c. 7th Century B.C.; polished creamy buff-pink variegated limestone (Munsell color 7.5YR 8/4), incised hieratic IIIII (5) on the domed top, convex sides narrowing to flat bottom; ex Shick Coins (Max Shick, Israel, 2013); extremely rare; SOLD
Persian Empire, Samaria, Bronze 1 Shekel Weight, c. 375 - 332 B.C.
According to David Hendin's, Guide to Biblical Coins, weight standard and silver content differences in the Persian Period existed as follows:
Type Weight AR % AR g
Edomite Sheqel 15.96g 96.4% 15.38g
Judaean Sheqel 11.33g 97.0% 10.99g
Samarian Sheqel 14.52g 91.8% 13.32g
Philistian Sheqel 14.32g 94.3% 13.50g
AS111501. Judah, bronze 1 shekel sphere weight, Hendin Weights -; Tushingham -; Kletter 1998; sphere with two flat surfaces, Choice, 14.427g, 15.7mm diameter, c. 375 - 332 B.C.; ex Archaeological Center (Robert Deutsch, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2012); rare; SOLD
Roman, Bronze Scales, 1st - 2nd Century A.D.
Ex Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome de-acquisition, c. 1950’s; ex Ran Ryan, Rome 1974; from the collection of Alex G. Malloy. Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia was founded in 1889 in the Villa Giulia, or Villa di Papa Giulio (Pope Julius), built in Rome in the mid-16th century for Pope Julius III. Today the museum is principally devoted to antiquities of the pre-Roman period, from ancient Umbria, Latium, and southern Etruria. In the 1950's the museum sold some of its later Roman antiquities to Rex Ryan, an antiquities dealer who had a shop in Rome. Alex Malloy, a retired dealer in antiquities for 40 years, purchased a group of these antiquities, including this piece, from Rex Ryan, in 1974.AI36111. Bronze scales; cf. Vienne 500; dual hooks at each end; 2 ½ inches; a very interesting piece, Choice, SOLD
Canaanite, Carved Hematite Sphendonoid 5 Shekels Weight (41.049g), Late Bronze Age II, 14th - 13th Century B.C.
Sphendonoid weights are found in excavations from Egypt to Mesopotamia, dating from the Early Bronze Age to as late as the Iron Age. The style originated in Syria or Babylonia, but they are found corresponding to various weight systems including Babylonian, Phoenician, Syrian and Egyptian. This weight was presumably more precisely attributed and dated by the Archaeological Center with the benefit of find information.AS111498. Canaanite, weight; cf. Hendin Weights 11; sphendonoid 5 shekel weight carved from hematite, polished, ellipsoid, Choice, 41.049g, 60.1mm long, 16.2mm diameter, Late Bronze Age II, 14th - 13th Century B.C.; ex Archaeological Center (Robert Deutsch, Tel Aviv, Israel), auction 52 (9 Apr 2012), lot 166 (part of); SOLD
Judah, Limestone Dome Weight, 4 Shekels (39.751g), c. 800 - 586 B.C.
This is a pre-exile limestone weight from Judah. Lead weights apparently were not used in Jerusalem. Ronny Reich in "Stone Scale Weights of the Late Second Temple Period from the Jewish Quarter," concludes that the Jerusalemites used limestone weights instead of lead for reasons of purity, since in Judaism, according to later rabbinical sources, stone does not acquire impurity.AS111509. Judah, limestone dome weight; cf. Tushingham fig. 78, 27 (42.22g, pink and gray limestone); Hendin Weights 198 (43.82g, grey limestone), Choice, 39.751g, 27.3mm diameter, underweight, pre-exile, 800 - 586 B.C.; carved creamy white limestone, high dome, flat bottom, unmarked; SOLD
Caesarea Maritima, Judaea / Syria Palaestina, 1st - 3rd Century A.D., Lead Half Italian Litra Weight
A nearly identical specimen, from the same mold, was found near Caesarea Maritima in 1949 and is listed in the Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, Vol. II, Ameling, Cotton, Eck, et.al. on page 621. According to the authors, in Judaea, the term "litra" derived from the Roman word "libra" came to indicate local weight standards between the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Therefore the word ITAΛIKΗ (Italica) was added whenever the Roman standard was intended. This weight is inscribed to indicate it is half an Italian litra. It is about 8 grams short of the standard but it probably originally had an handle attached that would have made it close to the appropriate weight. Around the end of the 3rd century CE, local standards were replaced entirely by the Roman system and the descriptive word ITAΛIKΗ was no longer necessary.AS96251. Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae, Vol. II, p. 621 (nearly identical specimen from the same mold), VF, roughly oval shape, probably missing handle at the top, weight 153.5 g, maximum diameter 87x43 mm, obverse ITA/ΛIK/H H/MI Λ/ITPA (half an Italian litra) in six lines; reverse blank; from The Jimi Berlin Caesarea Collection; surface find 1974 Caesarea Maritima; very rare; SOLD
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