A simple question that probably doesn't have a simple answer: when records in seventeenth and early eighteenth-century Virginia - especially pertaining to tobacco - use the term "hundredweight" or "Cwt," were they considering that 100 or 112 pounds? Obviously this is important to deriving an accurate price series. Unfortunately, in Essex County records, I have yet to find a document that would reveal what standard they were using (by that I mean references to pounds and cwt of tobacco with corresponding prices in the same entry). I know Avoirdupois units were pretty much the standard after the Revolution, but have never known when that standard originated and when it started to come into use. If anyone has a reference for legislation regarding the hundredweight standard in colonial Virginia or has an example where the standard is revealed, I would appreciate it. I suppose while I'm at it: were they using the short (2,000 lb) or long (2,240 lb) ton? To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html