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WEIGHT
Unique ID: NMS-2FB546
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A Late Saxon discoidal lead weight with a cast openwork copper alloy sheath or cover. On both faces, two sub-triangular and two D-shaped apertures are outlined by a reserved pair of addorsed C-shapes. The edge is convex. The surface of the lead within the apertures is not flush with that of the sheath, but is pitted to varying depths. It measures 27mm in diameter, is 10.5mm thick and weighs 46.66g. This is 1.5000oz Troy / 720 grains / 30 pennyweights or 2 shillingweights and 6 pennyweights, i.e. precisely one tenth of a mercantile pound of 7200 grains or one eighth of a Troy pound.
The unevenness of the surface of the exposed lead of the present example is surely not the result of wear or corrosion, but of the careful removal of material to achieve an exact mass. The exact correspondence of weights is remarkable.
Similar, but larger, objects found in Winchester and weighing 3304gr and 3124gr (214.1g and 202.4g respectively) were considered to be probably of the 11th century and to be for half a mercantile pound of 15oz Troy (Biddle 1990, 910-15 and 918, fig. 280, nos. 3192 and 3195). Another example, from South Creake (Norfolk Historic Environment Record number 44049), weighed 1533.8 grains, perhaps underweight for a quarter of a mercantile pound (= 1800 grains). There are also two further examples on the PAS database (LANCUM-683C84 (lozengiform) and HAMP-EEBC91) which weigh 11.11g (171.5 gr) and 76.3g (1177.5 gr) respectively.
Class: Discoidal
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Subperiod from: Late
Period from: EARLY MEDIEVAL
Ascribed Culture:
Anglo-Saxon style
Date from: Circa AD 1000
Date to: Circa AD 1100
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Thickness: 10.5 mm
Weight: 46.66 g
Diameter: 27 mm
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Friday 1st January 1993 - Friday 31st December 1993
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
SMR reference number: 29671
Materials and construction
Primary material: Lead
Secondary material: Copper alloy
Completeness: Complete
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Biddle, M. | 1990 | Artefacts from Medieval Winchester: Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester | Oxford | Clarendon Press | 910-5 and 918 |
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Timeline of associated dates
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