[[File:Al-Walid ibn Abdul-Rahman - Inscribed Pound Weight - Walters 476 - Three Quarter Left.jpg|thumb|right|An inscribed Islamic pound weight from 743. Made of glass, it is one of the oldest earliest Islamic dated objects in an American museum. In the collection of the [[Walters Art Museum]]]] '''Coin weights''' are weights used to weigh precious-metal coins in order to assure they were not underweight (It is easy to shave a bit of metal off the edge of a silver or gold coin).<ref name="Arnold">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GpQ3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA195 |title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936 |first=T.W. |last=Arnold |author-link=T.W. Arnold |page=195 |publisher=[[Brill (publisher)|Brill]] |year=1987 |isbn=9789004082656 |editor-first=M. Th |editor-last=Houtsma |editor-link=M. Th Houtsma}}</ref>
The usage of coin weights, especially glass ones, goes back to [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] and [[Byzantine]] times.<ref name="Arnold"/> Coin weights were also known in [[History of China#Ancient China|Ancient China]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aTdN3PWIvs0C&pg=PT144 |title=Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires |first=Walter |last=Scheidel |author-link=Walter Scheidel |page=144 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=5 February 2009 |isbn=9780199714292}}</ref>
In [[Muslim world|Islamic civilization]], they are called ''Sanadjāt''.<ref name="Arnold"/> Up to that point coins were only compared to coins of good quality.<ref name="Arnold"/> Islamic coin weights were made of bronze, iron, and later glass (considered to be unalterable).<ref name="Arnold"/> They bear inscriptions related to Islamic rulers and moneyers and are therefore valuable [[epigraphical]] objects.<ref name="Arnold"/>
Coins weights were also known in the [[Carolingian Empire]], where they were stamped with regular coin dyes to clarify their attribution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coupland |first=Simon |title=Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings: Studies on Power and Trade in the 9th Century |title-link=Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.]] |year=2007 |isbn=9780860789918 |page=38}}</ref> Islamic coin weights were introduced to [[Great Britain]] in the 9-10th century CE through the Vikings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/departments/coins_and_medals.aspx |work=[[British Museum]] exhibit |title=Department of Coins and Medals |access-date=3 August 2019 |publisher=[[Trustees of the British Museum]]}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}} {{Commons category}}
[[Category:Numismatics]]