Silver Plated Scales (1656) and Brass Weights (1648)
These Dutch merchant coin weights and scales are stored in an embossed wooden box with hinged lid. The fitted interior stores thirty-four square brass weights for various European coins including the English shilling and Dutch gilder. The set of silver plated scales contains one circular and triangular shaped pan. As a warning against greed, the lid of the box displays a print with Death surprising the money counter, and causing him to run away leaving all of his money.
To cover the Crown's rising costs, such as foreign wars and governmental salaries, Henry VIII and EDward VI's council debased English coins secretly from 1542-44 and then openly in 1544-51. They reduced the value of coins by lowering the real precious metal content of the coins when they were brought in for exchange. People also began to clip coins in order to make up for a shortage of smaller coins in circulation due in part to the closure of the ecclesiastical mints by Henry VIII. Merchants responded by using a scale to weigh the coins to validate their worth in order to keep from being cheated.
