Sunday, July 1, 2018

Barrel Shaped Bronze Scale Weight, 326 gram, with Silver Inlay

Barrel Shaped Bronze Scale Weight, 326 gram, with Silver Inlay
This weight is the largest of three scale weights I purchased recently. The seller's pic, Timeline Auctions, is below.  A similar 326 gram weight sold 3 months earlier and is the 2nd pic below. Both were advertised as Viking, but look a lot like Roman barrel weights. They have the right weight for a Roman pound or As.



Antiquities - Viking
Viking Large Weight with Inlay, 10th-12th century AD
A substantial bronze barrel-shaped weight with inlaid silver geometric motif. 
328 grams
33.3 mm tall
42.3 mm largest diameter
30 - 31 mm top and bottom (small) diameter
Condition Fine 
Provenance - From an old North Country collection; formed between 1970-2000.
Literature - See Weber, K. Byzantinische Münzgewichte: Materialkorpus für 1-Nomisma-Gewichte, Schwelm, 2009 for discussion.


I asked the seller why the weights were listed as Viking when they look a lot like Roman / Byzentine weights. He said:
The Viking weight was attributed as Viking as it was found from a Viking site/context. The Vikings regularly re-used Roman and Byzantine trade weights for their own purposes. 
I think my weight has a wolf design on part of the top. Below the design (wolf and twins?) is a horizontal line and letters. 
the top of my coin, you need a good imagination to see the wolf

I think the wolf looks a bit like this one.

Side view, this color looks about right. The two pics above had extra light to try to bring out the design.

Bottom view.

I have not decided if cleaning would improve my chances to see the design on my weight. I am inclined to leave it as is.

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