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Posted 10/13/2009 11:24 am
The balance would confirm the weight, the fact that the coin had to fit into a recess in the arm confirmed the diameter, and the coin had to be able to pass through the slot in the arm to confirm that it wasn't overly thick. (A contemporary counterfeit would have used less gold than the genuine coin making it underweight. To counter that the fakes were often made slightly larger than the real coin in order to get the weight right. But making them larger meant they would either have to be greater in diameter or in thickness. This tool allowed for a quick check of both of those as well.)
