Dear Peter: Do you know what 300 pounds of tobacco was worth in 1697? Diana "Peter V. Bergstrom" wrote: > > 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 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html