Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This hand-held scale, or tumbrel, was used to measure coins (1). The device is composed of two oblong copper alloy pieces, hinged at their midpoints (2). The smaller, thinner piece is shaped to fit within the larger one. Each arm has a leaf-shaped terminal at one end and a rounded terminal at the other. Simple circles of regular size embellish the object (2). When the arms are closed, only the decorated surfaces remain visible.
To operate the scale, the user positioned one piece vertically at its rounded end, forming a fulcrum. The second piece opened horizontally to create the beam (3). The rounded end of the balance is pre-weighted to measure coins of a specific denomination. The leaf-shaped end is flattened to hold the coin. Coins of correct weight tip the scale, causing the coin to fall off. If the coin is of insufficient weight, the beam remains horizontal (4). This scale may have been used to measure two coin types, with each arm weighted to a different denomination (5). The lack of control stamps indicates that the tumbrel was not used for official state measuring.
In the late Roman and early Byzantine eras, scales and weights for measuring coins and precious metals were assembled into portable sets (5). Presumably coins were weighed in groups on a balance scale, and if the expected total weight was insufficient, a tumbrel was used to identify unacceptable coins (6). The compact design of this device made it well suited for inclusion in a measuring kit.
NOTES:
1. Compare G. R. Davidson, Corinth 12: Minor Objects (Princeton, 1952) 194, no. 1466, pl. 88; A. MacGregor, “Coin Balances in the Ashmolean Museum,” The Antiquaries Journal 65.2 (1985): 439-45, esp. 440-41, fig. 1.3; S. Campbell, ed., The Malcove Collection: A Catalogue of the Objects in the Lillian Malcove Collection of the University of Toronto (Toronto, 1985) 73, no. 93; and D. Papanikola-Bakirtze, Kathēmerinē zōē sto Vyzantio [Everyday Life in Byzantium], exh. cat., Museum of Byzantine Culture (Athens, 2002) 71, no. 18 [in Greek]. For a general discussion of similar copper alloy tumbrels, see D. J. Rogers, Tumbrels, The Finds Research Group AD 700-1700, Datasheet 16 (York, 1993).
2. Similar devices in varying dimensions were also produced in ivory and bone; see MacGregor 1985 (supra 1) 442, figs. 1.6-7.
3. Regarding circle decorations of this kind and their potential apotropaic force, see E. D. Maguire, H. P. Maguire, and M. J. Duncan-Flowers, Art and Holy Powers in the Early Christian House, exh. cat., Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Urbana, 1989) 5-7.
4. Campbell 1985 (supra 1) 73.
5. N. J. Mayhew, “A Tumbrel at the Ashmolean Museum,” The Antiquaries Journal 55 (1975): 394-96, esp. 394.
6. Efforts to determine the denominations of Byzantine coins that were used with this balance have been inconclusive. This piece could also be Islamic.
7. See S. Bendall, Byzantine Weights: An Introduction (London, 1996) 4; and C. Stiegemann, ed., Byzanz, das Licht aus dem Osten: Kult und Alltag im Byzantinischen Reich vom 4. bis 15. Jahrhundert, exh. cat., Erzbischöfliches Diözesanmuseum Paderborn (Mainz, 2001) 281.
8. Mayhew 1975 (supra 5) 395.
Alicia Walker
