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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