OT But a Kool Scale, anyone want to translate the weights, 1790's Italy

Smittys

SCALES AND WEIGHTS, ITALY
Münzwaage late 18th / early 19th century With 15 weights in the original cassette. Weights to Mezza Genova, Doppia Genova,

Stork

Okay, that is beyond cool!

yosclimber

For translation, I believe these are lead [wrong - see below] weights which line up to denominations of the day
Mezza = half
1 Doppia = 3 Scudi
3 Zecchini = 2 Doppie
d'Oro Sovrano = Gold Sovereign (probably obvious)
roma.andreapollett.com/S7/monpapi.htm
If you use the google Chrome browser, you can right click on the page to translate it to English
(although you might then lose the key Italian words).

Smittys

@yosclimber said:
For translation, I believe these are lead weights which line up to denominations of the day
Mezza = half
1 Doppia = 3 Scudi
d'Oro Sovrano = Gold Sovereign (probably obvious)
roma.andreapollett.com/S7/monpapi.htm
If you use the google Chrome browser, you can right click on the page to translate it to English
(although you might then lose the key Italian words).

Weights are in brass

yosclimber

Cool; that makes sense. They have held up very well since 1790!

Sapyx

It is a "coin balance", specifically for determining whether a gold coin was genuine or not. The coins are from various states in southern and central Europe, which an Italian merchant of the late 1700s to early 1800s might reasonably expect to encounter in trade. The coins with "Spagna" on them are Spanish 2, 4 and 8 escudos; the ones with "Roma" are Papal States; "Genova" is Genoa; You've also got some French (20 francs and a louis d'or), one I think is Portuguese, The "Mezzo Sovrano" is, I think the Austrian ducat.

TwoKopeiki

Very cool!