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Denominations Of Litra

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pishpash's Avatar
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 Posted 10/20/2014  5:02 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add pishpash to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
Can anyone tell me where you can find weights for Litra and the various denominations? Can't seem to find them anywhere.

I have yet to receive a coin that I bought. The reference shows it to be from Kamarion Sicily. The reference given is for a Litra which weighs in at around .7 g on wildwinds and acsearch.

The coin in the post weighs around 1.37g which seems substantially different.
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echizento's Avatar
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 Posted 10/20/2014  5:44 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add echizento to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
According to Sear the silver Sicilian Litra weighs slightly more than and obol (0.72 grams) at 0.86 grams. The weight of your coin is more closer to a Diobol which weighs 1.43 grams.
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 Posted 10/20/2014  6:31 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add pishpash to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks. I will just have to wait until it gets here and I can have a proper look.
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ThisIsFun's Avatar
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 Posted 10/20/2014  6:34 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ThisIsFun to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
This page on ancient coin denominations is one of the best and most concise summaries I've seen. Worth bookmarking.
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pishpash's Avatar
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 Posted 10/20/2014  6:42 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add pishpash to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Excellent TIF, just what I was looking for.
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 Posted 10/20/2014  8:44 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Medieval to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
If you want a more detailed understanding - unfortunately (mostly) in German: http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/RE:Litra
In a nutshell:
The Litra was a Greek weight equal (in name) to the Roman Libra.
The Sicilian copper Litra was 1/3 of the Roman Libra, ie ~109g, and there are old copper coins weighting a (fraction of a) Sicilian copper Litra. The silver Litra derived it's name from it and works out to be at a ratio of ~125:1, ie the silver Litra is more or less 0.868g. There is a relationship to the corinthian Stater (which circulated for quite a while in Sicily) with the silver Litra being 1/10 of that, ie 0.857g.
The author quoted in the article disputes the some times brought argument for an older silver Litra at a weight standard of 1.164g.

Ancient measures and weights are a lot of fun.
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