Some smart tweets from Gareth Harney
So I would LOVE to see Zilberstein and Ben-Efraim’s method of reconstructing original mass applied to this object.
It’s a 10 pound weight from Rome with the name of a well known historical figure that can be dated with in a decade or so. Balsalt also is far more stable than most other materials so if we can determine its original volume and then mass we’d have a very good idea about what the official pound weighed in Rome at this time!
It is in the Allard Pierson Museum, University of Amsterdam
BM 1966,0328.18 seems to claim that it is an “official” weight from the Temple of Opes (Wealth), but if so it would give a very heavy pound indeed, 356.8g!
Liv Mariah Yarrow 