Weights, Measures & Balancing Scales

CONTENTS: Ancient Monetary Weights: TALENT, MANEH, SHEKEL, GERAH, BEKAH; TROY Weights; METRIC Weights; CARAT Weights; KARAT Purity; MILLESIMAL Fineness; FAR EAST Weights; British POUND (Sovereign, Pennyweight, Pound Sterling); DOLLAR (Old U.S. Gold Coins); Historical GOLD–SILVER RATIOS; U.S. 90% Silver Coins, Gold/ Silver Eagles; BIBLE Weights (Conversion TABLE); WORLD COINS (Gold Contents).

Gold and silver are like no other currencies and no other commodities. Both metals occur in nature worldwide and they do not corrode. The two monetary metals are recognizable, divisible, portable, easy to trade, and very rare — which makes silver and gold natural money.

NO COINS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS

Histories of all great civilizations record the use of silver and gold to facilitate trade. The Babylonians, Egyptians, Hebrews, Romans, Persians, Phœnicians, Assyrians, Minoans, Harappans, Mayans, Sumerians, Greeks, and Chinese all conducted trade with gold and silver. However, societies in the distant past did not use metals in coin form. According to archæology, there were no coins or bars with specified values for 1,000s of years.

Gold discs from the Indus Valley, c. 1800 B.C.

Early on, specific monetary values were not assigned to units of silver and gold. Instead, monetary units were measurements of weight. Money was the metal itself – kept in jewelry, rings, bars, and ingots.

Gold objects from Thrace. 

THE ANCIENT MONETARY SYSTEM

In the ancient monetary system, any form of gold and silver performed the function of money. International trade flourished because just about everyone determined monetary value in the same way. Nations and tribes measured the value of un-coined gold or silver by placing the metal on one side of a balance and offsetting it with standardized weights. 

In business transactions, merchants usually did not count the pieces of silver or gold; payments were made by weight. The only reason to add up the money was to make a rough estimate of the weight. 

INTERNATIONAL WEIGHTS

Long before the art of stamping coins, the oldest civilizations carried on seamless trade by using equivalent units of mass to weigh money. The weight system for measuring the value of silver and gold was internationally integrated. The Sumerians calculated the value of metals by using the same denominations of weights as the Hebrews and Greeks used (TABLE near end).

The GERAH, SHEKEL, MANEH, and TALENT were standard units of weight (not stamped pieces of gold or silver): 3000 shekels = 60 manehs = 1 talent.

Herodotus’s Table of Monetary Weights (484 to 425 B.C.) divided 1 talent into 60 minæ.*** More than 1,000 years earlier, the Mesopotamians divided 1 talent into 60 mĕnē (Hebrew maneh). 

Hematite weights from Mesopotamia c. 1,700 B.C.
A different weight system was for non-gold/silver things.

Throughout the world, denominations of weights to evaluate silver and gold were interchangeable in commercial exchange (until societies declined). Convertible systems of weights were used by merchants from Tyre, Sidon, Nineveh, and Carthage — with astonishing consistency.

OLD CARAT SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS

Seeds and grains were used as standardized weights to weigh money on precision scales. Jewelers and traders used barley grains and the uniform seeds of carob trees as units of weight to determine mass. One grain taken from the middle of an ear of barley or wheat (well-dried) was used as a weight called a gerah:  

1 GERAH = 1 GRAIN

A carob seed was used as a weight called a carat (Arabic qirat). The pod or seed of the carob tree has a consistent weight of four grains (gerahs):

4 GERAHS = 4 GRAINS = 1 CARAT

The carat system of weights measures mass 
and also measures the purity of gold alloys.

CARAT (abbreviated ct.) is the spelling used in North America when referring to the weight of gemstones such as diamonds and rubies. With today’s technology, the calculation is extremely precise:

1 carat = 0.2053 grams
1 carat = 3.17 grains Troy weight
120 carats = 1 Troy ounce.

KARAT (abbreviated k or kt.) is the spelling used in North America when referring to the purity of gold. Pure gold is 24 karat. All 24 karat gold is bright yellow. Metal mixed with gold changes the color to pink, blue, orange, purple, green, or white.

Different geographical regions have various karat standards for gold jewelry:

• United States was 10k, now 14k or 18k
• Far East 24k, Canton – Chuk Kam – min. 99% pure
• Russia 9k
• United Kingdom 9k – 18k
• India 22k
• Mediterranean Europe 18k

Divide the number stamped on gold jewelry by 24 to find the % of purity:

8k   ÷ 24  =  33.3%        .3333      333/1,000 (repetend 3)
10k ÷ 24  =  41.6%        .4167       416/1,000 (repetend 6)
14k ÷ 24  =  58.5%        .585        585/1,000
18k ÷ 24  =  75    %        .750        750/1,000
22k÷ 24   =  91.6%        .9167      916/1,000 (repetend 6)

TROY WEIGHT SYSTEM

The ancient Troy system of monetary weights probably got its name from the legendary city of Troy in Asia Minor (c. 3000 B.C.). Five thousand years ago, Troy was a powerful trading center because of its strategic location. Twenty-five hundred years later, the famous commercial hub had disappeared, but its monetary system lived on in ancient Rome and Troyes (a city in ancient Gaul).

In antiquity, units of time and money were divisible by TWELVE.
1 Troy pound = 12 Troy oz = 240 dwt = 5,760 grains
1/12 Troy pound = 1 Troy oz = 20 dwt = 480 grains
1/240 Troy pound = 1/20 Troy oz = 1 dwt = 24 grains
(“dwt” = pennyweight)

METRIC WEIGHTS

1 grain = .0648 grams
1 Troy oz = 31.1035 grams (31.1034768 grammes)
32.151 Troy oz (32.1507466) = 1 kilo bar
32,151 Troy ounces = 1,000 kilo bars = 1 metric tonne

A few hundred years ago, the metric system was introduced to simplify monetary weights (using increments of 10). However, the ancient Troy system is superior (grains and pounds divisible by 12).****

HALLMARK OF MILLESIMAL FINENESS

The system of millesimal fineness is a high-tech version of the carat system of weights. The Latin word for THOUSAND is “mille.” Millesimal fineness denotes parts per thousand of pure metal in a metal alloy.

Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium bars are either “cast” (poured) or minted like coins. The stamp on a bar is its “hallmark” of purity. The hallmark indicates who minted the bar and its millesimal fineness. If the mint is well-known and trusted, the numbers on the bar can be taken at face value. If the mint is unknown or considered unreliable, the bar must be assayed.

Former standards of purity varied from current standards. The current minimal acceptable fineness for a London Good Delivery Bar [LGD] of gold is .995 (995 parts per 1,000); a bar weighs 350 to 430 Troy oz. A Standard Bar of silver weighs approx. 1,000 oz, and has a minimum fineness of .999 (999 parts per 1,000). 

World standards for millesimal fineness of precious metals:

• Gold .9950 to .9999

• Platinum .995 to .999

• Palladium .995 to .999

• Silver .999

Standards of purity vary by geographical region (Dubai 99.9%; Iran 99.5%). In London and New York, a Standard Bar of gold is 99.5% fine and weighs approx. 12½ kilograms (12.5 x 32.151 = 401.8875 Troy oz). The trend in international gold trade is moving to 99.99% bars (4-nines-fine kilo bars below).   

TRANSFER OF GOLD TO THE EAST

BRITISH POUND (L. pendo to weigh)

The British POUND -£- was once a monetary unit of weight. A PONDUS (pound) was an old Roman weight used to weigh gold and silver on balancing scales. The symbol for the British Pound -£- is the first letter of LIBRA. In ancient Greece, a “libra” (abbreviated “lb.”) was the beam of a balance, connecting scales for money. From the time of King Æthelberht (550-616), the Anglo-Saxon Tower Pound (Money Pound) consisted of twelve ounces of silver.

The primary Anglo-Saxon monetary unit was the silver penny (the SCEAT). In the days of King Offa of Mercia (757-796), pennies were called STERLING because of their consistent weight and purity (92.5% silver). The penny above is from the reign of King Alfred (Ælfred, 871-899). In England as in ancient Rome, the silver penny was MONEY in general.

PENNYWEIGHT

In 1158, Henry II restored the sterling penny to its original weight and purity (925/1000 silver). The symbol for the penny is “d” after the Roman penny DENARIUS. The abbreviation of pennyweight is “dwt.” The weight of the old penny sterling is a universal unit of weight. PENNYWEIGHT is a Troy weight containing 24 grains (each grain being equal in weight to a dried grain from the middle of an ear of wheat): 20 dwt = 480 grains = 1 oz Troy weight.

POUND STERLING

In 1528, Henry VIII established the Troy pound as the official monetary weight: 12 Troy oz (480 grains each) = 5,760 grains = 1 Troy pound.**** One sterling silver penny (1d) weighed 1/240th of 1 Troy pound. In other words, 240 pennies weighed one Troy pound of sterling silver, the POUND STERLING. 

Originally, all English, French, and Scots pennies contained one pennyweight of silver (a two-hundred-and-fortieth part of a pound). According to Dr. Smith, “the bankers, money-brokers, and notaries had large and accurate scales for this purpose over the continent of Europe.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations.*

GOLD STANDARD

In 1729, Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint, adopted a true gold standard for Great Britain (fixing the price at £3, 17 shillings, 10½ pence per Troy oz of gold). Until 1933, the British pound and the U.S. dollar shared a standard exchange relationship; paper pounds, paper dollars, and coins of gold and silver were interchangeable currencies. Bank deposits and notes were converted to gold at U.S. $20.67 per Troy oz. One gold pound (£1) = $4.86.

The gold pound is called the Sovereign (from 1817); the exact gold content of the ¼ oz coin is .2354 Troy oz. When silver and gold freely circulated, coins had standard exchange relationships. The gold pound was equivalent to 20 shillings or 240 pence (the sum value of 240 silver pennies).

The Pound Sterling was the global standard for sound money until the dollar became the international “reserve currency” (1944 United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire).

CONSTITUTIONAL U.S. DOLLAR

Originally, the word DOLLAR signified WEIGHT. Dollar was the name for monetary units throughout the world (G. thaler, D. daalder, Dan., Sw. daler, Sp. dalera, Russ. taler).** The dollar came to Colonial America from Bohemia. The Bohemian coin called the “thaler” contained 451 grains of silver. 

When the American Colonies declared independence from England, they did not have the necessary silver and gold to fund the Revolution (to pay for soldiers, guns, etc.). In 1776, the U.S. Continental Congress agreed to print “Continental” dollars (not backed by silver or gold):

In 1776, the “Continental” PAPER dollar was equal in value to one SILVER dollar (Spanish 8 Reales). By 1779, the Continental dollar crisis reached 47% inflation per month. Congress agreed to redeem the bills at 1,000-to-1: 1,000 PAPER dollars equaled the value of 1 SILVER dollar.

1776: 1 SILVER dollar = 1 Continental dollar
1779: 1 SILVER dollar = 1,000 Continental dollars

The Constitution preserved the Republic and the integrity of the dollar: “No State shall… make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts….” Constitution of the United States of America, Article I, Section 10.

In 1792, legislation under President Washington fixed the dollar to gold in a ratio of 20 to 1 ($20.67 per oz). The Coinage Act defined a legal dollar ($1 was equivalent to a unit of gold weighing 23.22 grains):

$1  =  .7734  Troy ounces of silver
$1  =  .04837 Troy ounces of gold

Gold contents of pre-1933 U.S. gold coins:
U.S. $1 (Types I, II, III) .04837 oz
U.S. $2½ (Liberty, Indian) .12094 oz
U.S. $3 Indian Princess .14512 oz
U.S. $5 (Liberty, Indian) .24187 oz
U.S. $10 (Liberty, Indian) .48375 oz
U.S. $20 (Liberty, St. Gaudens) .9675 oz
U.S. $50 (Pan-Pacific: Octagon, Round) 2.4185 oz

From 1792 to 1971, the dollar was “as good as gold;” all U.S. trade dollars were convertible to U.S. gold. For 180 years until August 15, 1971, the dollar was 100% convertible to gold in foreign exchange. Until 1933, $1 was equivalent to 1/20^th of a 1-oz gold coin (anyone could exchange a $20 bill for a $20 Gold Piece below):

Banker J.P. Morgan believed gold alone is real money. The Titan of Wall Street testified before Congress: “Gold is money, and nothing else.” He told them that ALL other monetary instruments derive their value (credit) from gold. [Testimony of J. Pierpont Morgan before the “Bank and Currency Committee,” U.S. House of Representatives, Wash., D.C., Dec. 18 & 19, 1912.]

The government’s official price of gold was fixed at $20.67/oz (1792); raised to $35/oz (January 1934); raised to $38/oz (December 1971); and the last official price was raised to $42.22/oz (February 12, 1973).

HISTORICAL GOLD-TO-SILVER RATIOS

Gold is more rare than silver and has always held a higher value. Over millennia, gold has commonly been fifteen times more valuable. Today, the price of gold is eighty times higher than the silver price. This 80-to-1 ratio is an aberration. Monetary history provides a record of the natural relationship of gold-to-silver.

According to monetary scholars, the ratio of gold to silver was 2½ to 1 in Egypt under Menes (Code of Menes c. 3100 B.C.); 12 to 1 when David was King in Israel (c. 1000 B.C.); 5 to 1 in ancient Syria; 10 to 1 at the time of Hezekiah (c. 678 B.C.); 13 to 1 in Athens, until Alexander the Great set the relationship at 10 to 1 (c. 330 B.C.); 12-12½ to 1 in the Roman Republic (c. 509-113 B.C.). In China, the ratio was 4 to 1, then 10 to 1, and 12 to 1; in Japan, it was said the norm was 8 to 1. In Europe, the ratio averaged 10 to 1 from the Greek Testament of the Bible to about 1492; and from 1492 to 1834, the average ratio in Europe was 15 to 1. Napoleon set the ratio at 15½ to 1; England set the ratio at 16 to 1; and in 1792, Congress under President George Washington fixed the ratio at 15 to 1.

“In the market of Europe… an ounce of fine gold exchanges for about fourteen ounces of fine silver. In the English coin, it exchanges for about fifteen ounces… In India, ten, or at most twelve, ounces of silver will purchase an ounce of gold… In China, the proportion of gold to silver still continues as one to ten, or one to twelve. In Japan, it is said to be as one to eight… an ounce of gold will commonly purchase from fourteen to fifteen ounces of silver….” Adam Smith, LL.D., The Wealth of Nations, 1811.*

The gold-to-silver ratio for the entire world came close to historical norms in 1980, briefly touching 16 to 1. In 2011, the ratio was 38 to 1 and dropped to 30 to 1. The ratio of gold-to-silver is now 80 to 1. Take advantage of this anomaly.

Today, U.S. 90% silver [pre-1965] halves, quarters and dimes are traded by weight according to the “face value” of the coins. A full ‘bag’ is $1000 face value: 10,000 dimes [10¢], or 4,000 quarters [25¢], or 2,000 halves [50¢]. After melting off the base metal, one bag of “junk silver” contains approx. 715 Troy oz of pure silver. Big coins are less worn from circulation: a bag ($1,000 face value) of old silver dollars contains 765 Troy oz of pure silver.

NEW SILVER & GOLD AMERICAN EAGLES

The new U.S. silver dollar is the American
Silver Eagle (first issued in 1987).

The Silver Eagle contains 1 Troy oz of silver (no copper alloy).
The 1 oz American Gold Eagle contains 1 Troy oz of pure gold.

American Gold Eagle Coins
1 oz · 1/2 oz · 1/4 oz · 1/10 oz

Gold and silver coins are usually “alloys” (90% pure). The mixture of gold or silver with base metals strengthens coins for circulation. For example, the new American Gold Eagle contains 1 Troy oz of pure gold, but weighs 1.1 oz.

MONEY ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE

“And I bought the field, and weighed him
the money in the balances.”  Jeremiah.

Money is one of the main topics in Holy Scripture. In the ancient world, most business was transacted with silver. The value of silver was determined by a standardized WEIGHT called a SHEKEL. When Sarah died (c. 1,860 B.C.), Abraham purchased a family sepulcher for his wife’s burial (in the field of Machpelah in Hebron). There in the land of Canaan, the Hittites used the same “shekel” used by Abraham to measure the value of the money. (Abraham was originally from the land of the Chaldæans, Ur of the Chaldees.)

“…and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver… 400 shekels
of silver, current money with the merchant.”  Genesis 23: 16.

Later, Abraham sent his oldest servant back to Mesopotamia to search for a bride for his son, Isaac. When the servant found Rebekah at the well, he gave the bride-to-be gifts from the bridegroom:

“And… the man took a golden earring of
half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her
hands of ten shekels weight of gold.” Genesis 24:22.

The TALENT was a standardized WEIGHT used to weigh money in several Biblical accounts. The Hebrews reckoned by talents as we do by pounds. The word “talent” signifies weight or balancing scales. Gold and silver were weighed on a balancing scale called a TALANTON (ταλαντον). 

“Just balances, just weights, shall you have.” Moses.
“A false balance is not good.”  Solomon.
“Ye shall have just balances.”  Ezekiel.

TABLE OF WEIGHTS

The table below does not apply to non-monetary commodities. 

• 1 bekah = ½ shekel = 10 gerahs
• 20 gerahs = 1 shekel
• 50 shekels = 1 maneh = 100 bekahs = 1,000 gerahs
• 60 manehs (minæ) = 1 talent = 3,000 shekels
• 1 talent of gold = 3,000 shekels of silver (cicar, kikkar)

The talent was equivalent to 3,000 shekels (113 pounds, 10 ounces, 1 pennyweight, 10 2/7 grains Troy weight). The shekel was equal to 9 pennyweights, 2 4/7 grains Troy weight (0.40212316622522 oz).** 

GERAH (grain, kernel, bean) was the smallest weight.

BEKAH (to break, to divide) was a fractional weight. “A bekah for every man, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered….” Exodus 38:24-26; c. 1491 B.C.

SHEKEL (sheqel to weigh). A shekel weighed about 1/2 Troy oz. In the Bible, a “piece” of silver was about a shekel’s weight. The shekel of the sanctuary was double the profane shekel. SHEKEL is the root of the British word SHILLING.**

MANEH (number, part, portion) meant to number, to measure out, to weigh. This standardized weight was translated in the English Bible as POUND.

TALENT (circle, sum, a round number): The talent was the largest monetary weight, weighing about 125 pounds (avoirdupois).** Before his death, King David instructed his son Solomon:

“…I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand talents of silver….” I Chron. 22:14; 1017 B.C.

MONEY is a measure of value. The ancients numbered value by weight: Latin MONETA, Greek MNÁ, Hebrew MANEH, Babylonian MENĒ.

In Babylon, God NUMBERED the days of wicked King Belshazzar; “MENĒ, MENĒ” was written on the wall at his drunken feast. The depraved Babylonian king was “weighed in the balances, and found wanting.” [Daniel, Ch.5; c. 538 B.C.] Rembrandt van Rijn portrayed the “writing on the wall:” 

That night, the Kingdom of Babylon was given to the Medes and Persians. The Persian Prince Cyrus (God’s anointed) freed Judæa to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. “Belshazzar” by composer Georg Friedrich Händel dramatized the fulfillment of prophecy concerning Cyrus [Isaiah Ch. 45; 712 B.C.].

Between 1,792 and 1,750 B.C., the King of Babylon measured the value of silver and gold by the shekel (The Code of Hammurabi).*** Phœnicia used the shekel 1,000 years later. King Sennacherib used the shekel to weigh money in Assyria circa 700 B.C. 

3,000 Phœnician shekels, 3,000 Hebrew shekels,
3,000 Persian staters, 3,000 Assyrian shekels

were sometimes equivalent to

1 Egyptian talent, 1 Babylonian talent,
1 Phœnician talent, 1 Athenian talent 

THE ART OF STAMPING COINS

The Greeks and people influenced by the Greeks in Asia Minor started using coins as early as the eighth century B.C. According to Herodotus, the Lydians were the first to mint coins.*** Persia began using coinage about 500 B.C. It is estimated Carthage, Sidon, and Tyre started using coins sometime between 425 and 400 B.C.

According to Herodotus, Aegina was the site of the first European mint. The silver mines on the island of Siphnos supplied the raw material for great numbers of Aeginetan staters from the 6th century B.C. The Aeginetan mint used Babylonian and Phœnician weights as standards.*** Three Attic AUREI were equal to one Homeric gold talent. Coins bore the likenesses of rulers and gods, but did not specify monetary values until much later.

Gold [Au]: L. aurum, aurate; Heb. א ו ר light, fire, to shine.
Silver [Ag]: L. argentum; Fr. argent money; Gr. αρλος white.

Based on the COINS of Aegina, Asia, Africa, Greece, Magna Græcia, and Sicily, the weight and purity of the talent can be reduced to three standards. The Romans had a “great talent” and a “little talent.” The weight of the Attic talent contained 60 Attic minæ or 6000 Attic drachmæ (equal to 56 pounds, 11 oz, 17 1/17 grains Troy weight). The DRACHMA (dram.) was a weight equivalent to an eighth part of 1 oz (56½ grains Troy weight).**

Rome had no coined money before King Servius Tullius began minting coins between 575 and 535 B.C.* Until that time, rude bars of silver, bronze, and gold (without stamp) performed the function of money. One PONDO (pound) was divisible by twelve: 12 Troy oz = 5,760 grains = 1 Troy pound. 

SOMETHING NEW.
COINS with ASSIGNED MONETARY VALUES 

The shekel (below) became a coin denomination, rather than a weight, during the Second Temple period in Israel. The Maccabees and the Hasmonean Dynasty produced coins impressed with stamps indicating weight and fineness of the metals beginning between 141 and 110 B.C. (shekel coins rarely had dates). 

In Jerusalem, Israelites were required to pay a Roman tax with Roman coins (depicting Roman gods), but offered Hebrew coins in the Temple. 

Coins with specific monetary values became the norm with the advent of the Roman Empire. In 27 B.C., 1 AUREUS = 25 DENARII; 45 AUREI = 1 LIBRA (pound). A public stamp affixed to coins (Signatum) was the government’s guarantee of purity and weight.

The silver coins above were units of WEIGHT (Roman Republic DENARII, c. 211-41 B.C.). As the Roman Empire declined, the pure silver DENARIUS was gradually debased to only 2% silver. 

Circus Maximus model.

POLITICAL CHRONOLOGY OF ROME: 753 B.C. MONARCHY; 509 B.C. REPUBLIC; 113 B.C. DEMOCRACY; 27 B.C. EMPIRE; DIVIDED A.D. 476.

Gold Contents of World Coins

Australia
Kangaroo · Nugget (1/20^th oz; 1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1.0 oz; 2.0 oz)

Austria
1 Ducat .1109 oz
4 Ducat .4438 oz
10 Corona .0980 oz
20 Corona .1960 oz
100 Corona .9802 oz
Vienna Philharmonic (1/25^th oz; 1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1.0 oz)

Belgium
20 Franc .1867 oz

Britain (Victoria, Edward, George, Elizabeth)
½ Sovereign .1177 oz
Sovereign .2354 oz
Britannia (1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1.0 oz)

Canada
Maple Leaf (1/20^th oz; 1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1 oz)

Chilé
50 Peso .2943 oz
100 Peso .5885 oz

China
Panda (1/20^th oz; 1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1 oz)

Columbia
5 Peso .2354 oz

Denmark
10 Kroner .1296 oz
20 Kroner .2593 oz

Finland
10 Markkaa .0933 oz
20 Markkaa .1867 oz

France
20 Franc .1867 oz

Germany
10 Mark .1152 oz
20 Mark .2305 oz

Hungary
10 Korona .0980 oz
20 Korona .1960 oz
100 Korona .9802 oz

Isle of Man
Angel (1/10^th oz; ¼oz; ½ oz; 1 oz)
Noble 1.0 oz

Italy
20 Lire .1867 oz

Mexico
1 Peso .0241 oz
2 Peso .0482 oz
2½ Peso .06025 oz
5 Peso .1205 oz
10 Peso .2411 oz
20 Peso .4823 oz
50 Peso (Centenario) 1.20567 oz
Mexican Onza (¼ oz; ½ oz; 1 oz)

Netherlands
1 Ducat .1108 oz
2 Ducat .2208 oz
10 Guilder (florin) .1947 oz

Norway
20 Kroner .2593 oz

Peru
1/2 Libra .1177 oz
1 Libra .2354 oz

Russia
5 Ruble .1245 oz
10 Ruble .2489 oz
Chervonets .2489 oz

Saudi Arabia
Pound (Guinea) .2354 oz

Singapore
Tiger (1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1 oz)

South Africa
1 Rand .1177 oz
2 Rand .2354 oz
Krugerrand (1/10^th oz, ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1 oz)

Sweden
10 Kronor .1296 oz
20 Kronor .2593 oz

Switzerland
10 Franc .0933 oz
20 Franc .1867 oz

Turkey
100 Piastres (kurush) .213 oz

United States
New (bullion) coins:
American Eagle (1/10^th oz; ¼ oz; ½ oz; 1.0 oz)
American Buffalo (.9999) 1.0 oz

2,500 American Gold Eagle coins (1 Troy oz each).
Current value approx. $3.375 million.

Submitted by Denise Rhyne.

END NOTES

* Adam Smith, LL.D., An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of The Wealth of Nations (Of the Origin and Use of Money; Variations in the Proportions between the respective Values of Gold and Silver), Harvard College Library, Vol. 1, pp. 16, 30, 150, 153,178, Eleventh Edition printed for Oliver D. Cooke, Hartford, 1811.

** Definitions of monetary terms by Dr. John Arbuthnot are from a facsimile edition of Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language (permission to republish granted to FACE, Chesapeake, VA by G. & C. Merriam Co., 2016). In 1828, “MONEY” and “MINT” were essentially the same word.

*** HERODOTUS: Being Parts of the History of Herodotus by John S. White, LL.D., Copyright by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, New York and London, 1884.

**** “Reports in Reference to the Adoption of the Metric System,” Secretary of the Treasury to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures, House of Representatives, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1878 (Library of the Univ. of Michigan).

Creating Economic Order – Record-keeping, Standardization, & Development of Accounting in Ancient Near East, by A. Mederos and C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Institute for the Study of Long-term Economic Trends, International Scholars Conf., Ancient Near Eastern Economies, Vol. IV, British Museum, Nov. 2000.

The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopædia and Scriptural Dictionary [in three volumes], Edited by Samuel Fallows, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Howard-Severence Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1922.

Bible Cyclopædia, Critical and Expository, written by Andrew Robert Fausset, M.A., Rector of St. Cuthbert’s Rectory, York; S.S. Scranton Company, Hartford, Conn., 1905.

A Dictionary of the Bible by John D. Davis, Ph. D., D.D., Professor of Semitic Philology and Old Testament History, © 1901 by the Trustees of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA, 1898.

FUNNY MONEY vs. REAL MONEY:
http://www.washingtongoldexchange.com/2018/funny-money-vs-real-money/

THE FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/the-fundamental-transformation-of-america/

GOLD IS A PRUDENT INVESTMENT:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/gold-is-a-prudent-investment/

GOLD, the PETRO-DOLLAR & U.S. FOREIGN POLICY:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/gold-the-petro-dollar-and-us-foreign-policy/

WEIMAR – first DEFLATION then INFLATION:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/weimar-first-deflation-then-inflation/

FEDERAL RESERVE DOUBLE WHAMMY:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/federal-reserve-double-whammy/

WHAT ARE CAPITAL CONTROLS?
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/what-are-capital-controls/

GOLD SET TO TAKE OUT PREVIOUS HIGHS:
http://www.washingtongoldexchange.com/2019/gold-set-to-take-out-previous-highs/

Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School about Gold & Silver:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/GOLD-SILVER-9-1.pdf

Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School about History & Law:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HISTORY-LAW.pdf

Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School about Education 
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/EDUCATION.pdf

Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School about Theology:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/2017-THEOLOGY.pdf

Things You Probably Didn’t Learn in School about Economics & Power:
http://www.youshouldbuygold.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/ECONOMICS-POWER.pdf