Need ID help on early colonial coin weight

Bill D. (VA)

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Oct 7, 2008
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Bill, any chance you're willing to risk doing a rubbing of both sides of that weight? It might help bring out some more details.

I can make out the large "S" in the 2nd pic and that makes it a shilling/shillings weight, so that helps narrow the possibilities down somewhat, but nothing else on that side is real clear. On the other side, is that a "2" at the bottom?
 

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Bill, any chance you're willing to risk doing a rubbing of both sides of that weight? It might help bring out some more details.

I can make out the large "S" in the 2nd pic and that makes it a shilling/shillings weight, so that helps narrow the possibilities down somewhat, but nothing else on that side is real clear. On the other side, is that a "2" at the bottom?

In the first pic you can see the roman numerals "IIII" on the top with the "2" at the bottom, but I can't make out the characters in between. And that is obviously an "S" on the other side at the bottom. I know some of the James I weights have the "IIII" on them, and with the shilling symbol it shouldn't be too difficult to ID. With the condition of the weight and its tiny size I doubt a rubbing would bring out any better detail. Thanks for your interest.
 

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In the first pic you can see the roman numerals "IIII" on the top with the "2" at the bottom, but I can't make out the characters in between. And that is obviously an "S" on the other side at the bottom. I know some of the James I weights have the "IIII" on them, and with the shilling symbol it shouldn't be too difficult to ID. With the condition of the weight and its tiny size I doubt a rubbing would bring out any better detail. Thanks for your interest.

I thought the IIII might be there, but like you I can't tell just what the heck the other characters are on it. I'll keep checking on it as it's an interesting find, not too many come to light on here.
 

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Thought I'd bump this up to the top for one last try.
 

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Thought I'd bump this up to the top for one last try.

I've still got nothing Bill. Based on the design and what you can make out I agree that it's likely a James 1 weight, but I can't locate a specific example online which matches what you've found. I've saved the pics you took and I'll keep an eye out for listings for weights going forward, maybe an example will turn up somewhere we can identify.
 

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Sorry, it's not in my book. There is enough for an ID, but I'm now thinking it's not British. The 'S' for Shilling implies Britain but probably a foriegn trader using/weighing our coins. Also the 'S' can be at the top or bottom & the middle holds the value in Roman numerals, like XXII.
 

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Bill this one I found was attributed to James I coin weight for a gold half angel of circa 1610.

The faint side is: St Michael killing dragon (BRI)
35 3/4grains or 2.32 grams, 12mm
V.s Crown above VI.D below,
Crowned I countermark
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