FORVM`s Classical Numismatics Discussion Board
Antiquities Discussion Forums => Weights and Scales => Topic started by: Justin W on February 01, 2021, 04:50:47 pm
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Hello everyone I got a few cool coins from an uncleaned lot from the holy land or Judaea. I will probably post them cleaned later in the uncleaned section. For now I think I may have a coin weight. It weighs 4.22 g and sis 10.7 mm. I see on acsearch an auction which sold Jude an coin weights that this would maybe correspond with the weight of 8 Gerah. As always any help is appreciated.
Best regards,
Justin
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After doing a little more research I doubt it’s what I previously stated. The barrel form of the weight may indicate Byzantine? I’m not to versed and also there are not visible markings except scratches, so I think the weight is only indicator of what type it is.
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Hi Justin. One Nomisma is a possibility, but I think this could also be an early Islamic "discoid" weight of 1 dinar (4.25grams). Here is a similar one from my gallery, and another from WileyC. I also have a great paper by Lionel Holland called Islamic Weights from Caesarea Maritima which I will send you by email. Nice find!
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-107031
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-129266
What does the edge profile look like?
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I saw an example of an Islamic weight which looked like mine, but I gave up on that because of the lack of sources I could find for Islamic weights. Thank you very much for the paper, it’s perfect because I was looking for a resource just like that. I will try to take a picture of the edge later, it is very similar to wileyc coin where the middle of the edge is raised slightly. This is the first weight I have encountered and to see it came from an uncleaned lot is extra cool!
Best Regards,
Justin
Edit: Also I’m not sure if this means anything, but one side of the weight is scratched heavily and the other side has no visible scratches. So it is clear the one side that has all those scratches was done manually. Probably means nothing but worth pointing out.
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Just a guess, but maybe the scratches represent the removal of a small amount of metal to "correct" the weight??
SC
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Hey Shawn, first I’ll say it again congratulations, your knowledge from artifacts-coins helps so many people on the forum. You propose an interesting theory, yesterday I tried gently putting my nail into the scratches and it actually showed the scratches were deeper then just the surface. But, I am not sure how much of an effect they Would have on the weight. I did look at wileyc example of a 1 dinar weighs 4.21g and mine weighs 4.22. The article v-from sent me stated 1 dinar to weigh 4.15. The difference between mine and wileys is his has the circle engraved in it and mine is completely smooth. Also, Wiley’s is 19 mm but the circles on both sides probably compensate for that. This is just conjecture, but maybe depending on whether the one dinar weighed to much they would create markings in it to compensate for the error. This could be why some 1 dinar weights have grooves in it and some don’t. Once again, this is conjecture but it is fun to think about.
Best Regards,
Justin
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just saw this looking around.....
I might also consider the scrapping marks to be from someone removing the silver inlay of a "N" also removing a bit of weight, I lean towards it being byzantine.
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It seems too plain to be an Islamic disc weight - more likely a local 1 nomisma coin check weight.
Ross G.