In this quiz your job is to guess the weight of a coin from Morocco and I will send you 1 HSBI. Easily done, you might say. All you would have to do is look it up in an online catalogue. Think again ;)
Let me give you some background about the coins that I am talking about.
During the 18th and 19th Century, when precious metals became scarce in the Western Kingdom of North Africa, following repeated military defeats by European colonial powers, the Alaouite Kings refused to hand over the money supply to foreigners and resorted to bronze cast coins for the lower denominations (the so-called „falus“). The production of these coins was mostly delegated by the palace to local „ateliers“ under the supervision of regional authorities. Due to the decentralization of coin production and widespread economic chaos, there were also numerous contemporary counterfeits in circulation and the weight of these coins therefore varied. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between and authentic piece and a forgery. The best way to do so is to weigh it.
When I began to catalogue my falus collection, I bought some scales and was amazed to learn that the weight of a particular type of coins can vary up to 30%. The lighter the coin, the more likely it is forged.
The pieces featuring in my quiz are the 2 Falus coins from the period of Sulayman II (1792-1822). These coins bear the Seal of Solomon on both sides. Not only was Sulayman II rather fond of the ancient Israelite King, whose name he bears, the Seal of Solomon was also believed to have cleansing powers among a highly superstitious local population.
So here is the coin: 2 Falus (1792-1822) . Each week I will enter a different coin of this type and let you guess the weight.
The weight of the coin can vary from 6 to 12 grams depending on a number of factors: the engraver (graveur), the production site (atelier), the copper content, the quality of the cast and the wear of the coin. Check out this POST to learn more about how these beautiful and unique coins were made.
Your job is to guess the exact weight of this coin, but I will give you a hint: the average is 8-9 grams.
Participating is easy: write what your guess the coin weighs in grams in the comment section.
The one getting closest to guessing the exact weight will receive 1 HSBI. I will determine the winner of each week’s quiz every Tuesday evening CET and select a new coin for the next quiz. I hope you will enjoy this little task and good luck to everyone!
And here are the results of last week's Coin Quiz #1!
Congratulations 
Thank you everyone for participating:
if you want off the list let me know!
Map image from www.princeton.edu
All coins are mine
