Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
A pennyweight ( dwt) is a unit of mass equal to 24 grains, 20 of a troy ounce, 240 of a troy pound, approximately 0.054857 avoirdupois ounce [ 1] and exactly 1.55517384 grams. [ 2] It is abbreviated dwt, d standing for denarius – (an ancient Roman coin), and later used as the symbol of an old British penny (see £sd ).
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in both the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly 0.453 592 37 kilograms, and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces. [ 1]
In general the silver tael weighed around 40 grams (1.3 ozt). The most common government measure was the Kuping (庫平; kùpíng; 'treasury standard') tael, weighing 37.5 grams (1.21 ozt). A common commercial weight, the Caoping (漕平; cáopíng; 'canal shipping standard') tael weighed 36.7 grams (1.18 ozt) of marginally less pure silver.
Under the rule of Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) its weight fell to 3.9 grams (a theoretical weight of 1 ⁄ 84 of a Roman pound). It remained at nearly this weight until the time of Nero (AD 37–68), when it was reduced to 1 ⁄ 96 of a pound, or 3.4 grams. Debasement of the coin's silver content continued after Nero.
At small scales the basic unit is the gram (or fractions thereof), but for larger orders fractions of ounces and pounds are used. Informally 1 ⁄ 8 ounce is often defined in turn as 3.5 grams (an approximate 1.25% rounding error) and referred to simply as "an eighth". [76]
This created a new U.S. dollar that was backed by 1.50 grams (23.22 grains) of gold. However, the previous dollar had been represented by 1.60 g (24.75 grains) of gold. The result of this revaluation, which was the first devaluation of the U.S. dollar, was that the value in gold of the dollar was reduced by 6%.
Crown (British coin) The crown was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄4 of one pound, or 5 shillings, or 60 (old) pence. The crown was first issued during the reign of Edward VI, as part of the coinage of the Kingdom of England . Always a heavy silver coin weighing around one ounce, during the 19th and 20th centuries the crown ...
The Government of the People's Republic of China continued using the market system along with metric system, as decreed by the State Council of the People's Republic of China on 25 June 1959, but 1 catty being 500 grams, would become divided into 10 (new) taels, instead of 16 (old) taels, to be converted from province to province, while ...