Note to the Reader II: Historic Units of Measure and Currency

Silver bullion weight, when measured in grams, is typically factored to the third decimal point and rounded up or down. Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Conservateur général au département des Objets d’art, Musée du Louvre, observed that, generally, French ancien régime weight measurements for silver plate did not achieve the same degree of precision as in the modern era. Communication from Michèle Bimbenet-Privat of March 6, 2021. On the relevance of scratch weights, or historic weights scratched into antique silver plate, see Burstyn 2005. ↩︎

Perrin 1993, 23; Bimbenet-Privat and Fontaines 1995, front matter, unpaginated. ↩︎

Weight units for silver varied regionally and temporally across the Holy Roman Empire. The Cologne Mark is given here for its relevancy to cat. nos. 8 and 10. Equivalent to approximately 234 grams, the Mark in the northern duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin aligned with that of Cologne (see cat. no. 8). Information courtesy of Torsten Fried, Leiter des Münzkabinetts, Staatliche Schlösser, Gärten und Kunstsammlungen Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. While the two girandoles, the subject of cat. no. 10, were made by the Parisian goldsmith Robert Joseph Auguste for the Hanoverian court, silver weight in the correspondence from the London-based patron was given in Cologne Marks. In Hanover, however, the historical unit of one Mark varied from 230.032 to 231.287 grams. Regionally, the silver content in the alloy was lower in Hanover and in the north of the empire (at 12 lötiges with a purity of 750 parts per thousand, or 75 percent) than in Cologne and in the south (at 13 lötiges with a purity of 812.5 parts per thousand, or 81.25 percent). See Witthöft 1979, 73; Stein 1997, 576–77; Seelig 2002, 106; and Seelig 2012, 76n3, 77. Ulrike Weinhold, Curator, Grünes Gewölbe, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and independent art historian Ines Elsner, Berlin, kindly clarified regional variations of bullion weight measures within the Holy Roman Empire; Ulrike Weinhold and Ines Elsner, email message to author, April 8, 2021. ↩︎

One troy pound consists of twelve troy ounces (ozt.). James Rothwell, Decorative Arts Curator, National Trust of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, noted that, in historic lists of English/British silver plate, silver bullion weights were rarely recorded down to the grain level. Typically, the pennyweight (dwt.) was rounded up or down accordingly. James Rothwell, email message to author, January 4, 2021. ↩︎

The following sources summarize the essential literature from diverse fields of research: Borges et al. 2018; Asmussen and Long 2020; and Bigelow 2020, especially pp. 1–19, “Introduction: The Meaning of Metals.” ↩︎

Sgard 1982, 425–26. ↩︎

Dennis 1960, vol. 2, 10. ↩︎

The price of one marc of silver bullion increased from 52 livres in December 1751 to 52 livres, 10 sous by May 1765. Paris, Archives nationales de France, Minutier central, LXXXIII, 511, May 22, 1765, “Délivrance de mobilier par François Thomas Germain, sculpteur orfèvre du roi,” under the subsection titled “Prem.er avril 1765. No.7. Bordereau et résultat des matières d’orphèvreries remises par Mr. Germain le p.er avril 1765 à la commandite avec le prix des matières et l’apréciation des façons à payer aud.t Sr. Germain.” Images of the document were kindly shared by Peter Fuhring. See Solodkoff 2000, 131–32 (citing a document dated December 15, 1751), and Seelig 2012, 92. ↩︎

The important two-part 1748 publication of Éléments d’orfèvrerie divisés en deux parties de cinquante feuilles chacune compose par Pierre Germain, marchand orfevre joaillier by Pierre Germain cost 12 livres per division, each with fifty sheets of designs. See Germain 1748 and Bapst 1887, 183n4. ↩︎

Currencies varied regionally and temporally across the Holy Roman Empire. The Convention of Vienna in September 1753, however, set a standard that was widely adopted, though not in Mecklenburg-Schwerin nor in Hanover (see notes 11 and 12 below). See Shaw 1896, 374–75, and Koeppe 2010, 90. ↩︎

From 1752 to 1756, the coinage of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and its sister duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz aligned with the system prevailing in the neighboring duchy of Brandenburg and in the kingdom of Prussia. These years coincided with the commission of a silver centerpiece, known as la machine d’argent, by Christian Ludwig II, duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (cat. no. 8). See Kunzel 1994, 158–59; Robert Selig, “Eighteenth-Century Currencies,” The Brigade Dispatch: Journal of the Brigade of the American Revolution XLIII, no. 3 (Autumn 2013): 16–32, especially 29n12; and Shaw 1896, 379. As a point of reference, the medalist Johann Peter Nonheim, who worked for Christian Ludwig II from 1753 to 1755, earned an annual salary of 300 Thalers. See Fried 2019, especially 107n77. ↩︎

The electorate-principality of Hanover aligned with the system used in the duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. See Shaw 1896, 373, and Michael 2016. The two girandoles (cat. no. 10) were made by the Parisian goldsmith Robert Joseph Auguste for the Hanoverian court. ↩︎

The gold sovereign coin minted from the Tudors to James I was equal in value to 20 shillings or one pound sterling silver. Its descendent, the so-called guinea gold coin, was valued in 1717 at 21 shillings, though this rate fluctuated higher. In 1817 a new sovereign coin was introduced equal to 20 shillings or one pound. See “The History of the Gold Sovereign,” The Royal Mint: The Original Maker, accessed July 8, 2020, https://www.royalmint.com/discover/sovereigns/history-of-the-gold-sovereign/. ↩︎

The Bank of England began printing pound notes in the late 1600s, with values derived from the Latin terms of libra, solidus, denarius (for pound, shilling, penny/pence). See “Early Bank Notes,” Bank of England Museum, updated March 4, 2022, https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/museum/online-collections/banknotes/early-banknotes. ↩︎