Weights & Gaming Pieces
Finds From Wirral – Weights & Gaming Pieces
We have a collection of weights/gaming pieces that have been dated as being from the Early Medieval period.
Of particular note in this collection is the tall holed weight at the rear. It’s weight at 44.3 grams is approximately 10 times the weight measure used for bullion by Dublin Vikings. They used a weight system of 4.34 grams. Interestingly the York Vikings used a different scale of 4.07 grams for bullion.
This weight is dated to AD 850-1100.
The weight/gaming piece on the left is domed on top and underneath which would allow stacking if a gaming piece however it also weighs 26.9 grams which is approximately 6 times the Dublin Vikings bullion measure. This shows how difficult it is to distinguish. This piece has been dated to AD 850-1100.
The weight/gaming piece on the right has a wide possible date range from AD850-1700. It does not fit into any of the weight measures but has suffered damage during its years in the soil probably having been hit by farming machinery.
The links to all the pictured weights/gaming pieces on PAS are below.
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1139186
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1139182
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1139179
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1053030
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1053025
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1053004
https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1052999