Gold weights

Museum number:
5-10478a-c
Permalink:
ark:/21549/hm210510478a@2dc
Accession number:
Acc.4036
Description:
Scales; one balance beam from which two brass trays are suspended by string. A) balance beam; solid brass, three holes, one for string handle, two for hanging the scales on, 1g 14cm. B) scale tray; circular, slightly concave sheet brass, diam. 6 cm. C) scale tray; same as B, diam. 6 cm. Used for balancing gold dust against specific gold weights as part of the Ivory Coast gold dust currrency which thrived from the 1400s through 1800s.
Donor:
Franklin H. Williams
Collection place:
Ghana
Verbatim coll. place:
Ashanti
Culture or time period:
Ashanti
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Gold-weights
Function:
7.3 Weights, Measures, and Computing Devices
Accession date:
June 1985
Department:
Africa (except Ancient Egypt)
Images:
Hearst Museum object titled Gold weights, accession number 5-10478a-c, described as Scales; one balance beam from which two brass trays are suspended by string. A) balance beam; solid brass, three holes, one for string handle, two for hanging the scales on, 1g 14cm. B) scale tray; circular, slightly concave sheet brass, diam. 6 cm. C) scale tray; same as B, diam. 6 cm. Used for balancing gold dust against specific gold weights as part of the Ivory Coast gold dust currrency which thrived from the 1400s through 1800s.
Legacy documentation:
Documentation associated with Hearst Museum object titled Gold weights, accession number 5-10478a-c, described as Scales; one balance beam from which two brass trays are suspended by string. A) balance beam; solid brass, three holes, one for string handle, two for hanging the scales on, 1g 14cm. B) scale tray; circular, slightly concave sheet brass, diam. 6 cm. C) scale tray; same as B, diam. 6 cm. Used for balancing gold dust against specific gold weights as part of the Ivory Coast gold dust currrency which thrived from the 1400s through 1800s.

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