Money-changer's box

Scales. Wooden case lined with silk and containing weights. Scales with polygonal and round arms. The finishes are in brass. Inside the lid is an inscription that says: "JOSÉ MARTÍNEZ / Maker of Weights for / Assay on behalf of His Majesty's /Royal Mint / with expertise in all / tasks in iron and / steel. Seville Year 1850".

The money-changer's box was used to weigh gold and silver coins in the money market. Because, in the 18th and 19th century, a coin's value depended on the precious metal it contained, the exact weight had to be verified to guarantee its validity in merchant circles. To accurately check the weight, money weights were created in Byzantine times. The weights were adapted for domestic and foreign standard gold and silver coins and tend to represent their face value with some indication of their name and/or country of origin. The aim of weighing was to confirm the accuracy of coins in circulation, ensure against clipped, worn or forged coins by checking the standards established for foreign coins. It was also used to check the quality of old issues -which were still in use - and to guarantee the validity of newly minted coins. The weights therefore had the minimum accepted weight for domestic and foreign coins in circulation. From the end of the 16th and early 17th century, square weights began to be produced which were housed in a portable wooden box. The complete equipment included scales and sometimes weights of nested bronze cups to weigh larger amounts of money. Although the weights were eventually freely produced, they need official ceritifcation since they validated the weight and value of issues set at mint. The main users of these types of weights were money-changers. The rise in commerce of the Modern Age meant that the main coins of some countries circulated with local coins in fairs and markets. Money-changers therefore needed to have catalogues with currency equivalences and different money weights. For the sake of portability, weights and scales were put together in these boxes.

The figure of the money-changer and trader was essential for conducting business in commercial and financial fairs. Their trade arose from the need to negotiate in trading coins -although trading in promissory notes also existed- and provided a legal profit for each exchange made. The city of Cologne is probably the most important centre for the production of these boxes, and has had a corporation for scale manufacturers since the early 16th century.