On Thu, 9 Nov 2000 16:38:49 EST, [log in to unmask] wrote:

>     While reading some Northern Neck Court records from 1780s, I came
across
>"Tobacco at Twenty Shillings per Cent."  What is a Cent??
>     It would seem from the text that a Cent is a unit of weight.
>
>     In Court cases where a fine was levied, a fine would read "Twenty
>Shillings or Two hundred pounds of Tobacco."  So is a Cent. 200 lb. of
>tobacco?
>
>     Hope someone can help me with this.
>
>         Thanks, Bill Balderson
>
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
>at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html

I was just searching the list archive on tobacco -- just a matter of
curiosity I guess, but I came across this query from last fall and I wasn't
sure if it ever generated an answer.

Tobacco prices were quoted by the hundred weight in Colonial Virginia which
was usually abbreviated as Cwt or Cent.

In America the hundred weight was given as 100 pounds, but in England a Cwt
was 112 pounds. Although this doesn't seem to have been a confusing thing
for colonials, it sure can be tough on modern researchers.  If you see a
Virginia price quoute such as 10/Cwt  which means 10 shillings per hundred
weight you get a price of 1.2d/pound of tobacco -- 1.2 pence per pound
(10sX12d=120 pence/100 pounds of tobacco to get 1.2 pence/pound).

In England this same quote of 10/Cwt would work out to 120 pence/112
pounds, or about 1.07 pence per pound.  Of course the Virginians would be
using "current money" more likely than sterling money, so those two
quotes would be even farther apart. [If you want to know about exchange
rates -- that's a whole other story ...]

I hope this clears up some of the confusion about colonial and English
weights and measures.

Peter

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html