Fatimid glass weights

[Manzikert]

Prompted by Maythem's posting of a nice Fatimid dinar I looked at the index for Fatimid coins and noticed that no-one seems to have mentioned the glass weights issued by them, the Mamluks and a few other rulers in Egypt.

Over many years I have been able to acquire about a dozen of these, and I thought I'd post a few.

Fatimids, al-Mustansir (1036-1094, 427-487 H), glass weight for a dirhem 'khayl', 2.98 gm, 24 mm; pale brown glass. The reverse is blank.

The theoretical weight of the legal dirhem was 2.97 gm, so this weight is extremely accurate considering its method of production.

I don't have a dinar weight for al-Mustansir, so here is one from al-Aziz (975-996 AD), 4.15 gm, 30.3x24.6 mm; Green glass.

Finally, al-Azid (1160-1171 AD), fals of 30 qirat, 5.72 gm, 24 mm; greyish opaline glass.

Alan

[aws22]

Very interesting, thank you Alan for posting such weights which I have not seen before.

Maythem

[Figleaf]

Spectacular, especially because of the accuracy! I'll move this to the board "Coin scales, weights and handling machines". For modern glass weights, look here. The Fatimid dinar Manzikert mentions is here

Peter