Historical information
The disc-shaped design of this 2 LB metal weight enables it to be stacked on top of another similarly shaped weight. The weight is used with a balance scale to accurately weigh the mass of items such as grain, sugar, meat or potatoes. It could have been used in retail or wholesale businesses like a general store or a grain merchant’s premises.
The user would place the weight on one side of a balance scale. Goods would then be placed onto the other side of the scale until the beam between both sides of the scale was level, showing that the weight of the goods was as heavy as the weight on the other side.
This weight is marked in Imperial units. An Imperial Standard 1LB, or one pound, is equal to 453.592grams. The British Weights and Measures Act of 1824 defined official standards for weights and measurements. This ensured that uniform measurements would be used for trade throughout the Empire.
Towns and districts would have an official set of Imperial Standard Weights and Measures. Inspectors periodically used this official set to check the accuracy of traders’ own weights and measures. There would be penalties such as fines or imprisonment for people who broke these laws.
The State of Victoria had its own Weight and Measures Act in 1862 and a decade later the inspectors in local councils used their local set of weights and measures to test the local businesses measuring equipment. In the nineteenth century the Victorian Customs Department carried out this role but this was handed over to the Melbourne Observatory at the beginning of the twentieth century. The Measures Branch then followed on with this task from the 1940s until 1995. Australia began converting to the metric system in the 1960s, beginning with its money. The conversion from imperial to metric units of measurement in Australia took place from 1970 and was completed in 1988 when metric units became the only legal unit of measurement.
Physical description
Weight; 2 lbs. Metal disc designed for stacking. Inscription marked in relief. Imperial Standard weight, 2 pounds weight.
Inscriptions & markings
"IMPERIAL STANDARD", "2lbs"
