Page 27 - Chinese SIlver By Adrien Von Ferscht

Above: Boat sycee [ma di yin ] of 50
taels [approx. 1832gm]

Left: Round sycee [yuan ding ] of 5 taels
[approx. 178gm]

Money handlers, known as shroffs
were responsible for determining the
purity and weight in taels [liang ] of
the ingots, including appropriate
discounts and premiums. Individual
silversmiths were responsible for their
manufacture and not as one might expect, an official mint. Despite the involvement of the
shroffs, we do know that “bad” sycee did get through the checks, sometimes even
containing small stones or gravel.

Mexican trade dollars were [8 Reales or “pieces of eight”] were issued at 420 grains, a
fundamental unit of the Troy system of wight measurement, nominally based on a grain of

1739 trade dollar from the Mexico mint showing the ‘pillars of Hercules” on the reverse side [left] which is the emblem
of Seville and thought to be the inspiration that created the modern ‘$’ symbol. On the obverse side [right] PHILIP[PUS]
V D[EI] G[RATIA] HISPAN[IARUM] ET IND[IARUM] REX
"Philip V, by the Grace of God, King of the Spains and the Indies"
Displays the arms of Castile and León with Granada in base and an inescutcheon of Anjou.