[[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 |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 Ptolemaic and Byzantine times.<ref name="Arnold"/> Coin weights were also known in 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 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