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Before that time, various sorts of troy ounces were in use on the continent. [8] The troy ounce and grain were also part of the apothecaries' system. This was long used in medicine, but has been largely replaced by the metric system (milligrams). [11] The only troy weight in widespread use is the British Imperial troy ounce and its American ...
Another difference arose when Britain abolished the troy pound (373.241 7216 g) on 1 January 1879, leaving only the troy ounce (31.103 4768 g) and its decimal subdivisions, whereas the troy pound (of 12 troy ounces) and pennyweight are still legal in the United States, although they are no longer widely used.
A troy ounce (abbreviated oz t) is equal to 480 grains. Consequently, the international troy ounce is equal to exactly 31.1034768 grams. There are 12 troy ounces in the now obsolete troy pound. Today, the troy ounce is used only to express the mass of precious metals such as gold, platinum, palladium, rhodium or silver.
The troy pound (5760 grains) was used for precious metals, the apothecaries' pound, (also 5760 grains) was used by pharmacists and the avoirdupois pound (7000 grains) was used for general purposes. The apothecaries and troy pounds are divided into 12 ounces (of 480 grains) while the avoirdupois pound has 16 ounces (of 437.5 grains).
The original mercantile pound of 25 shillings or 15 (Tower) ounces was displaced by, variously, the pound of the Hanseatic League (16 tower ounces) and by the pound of the then-important wool trade (16 ounces of 437 grains). A new pound of 7,680 grains was inadvertently created as 16 troy ounces, referring to the new troy rather than the old ...
Troy weight, avoirdupois weight, and apothecaries' weight are all built from the same basic unit, the grain, which is the same in all three systems. However, while each system has some overlap in the names of their units of measure (all have ounces and pounds), the relationship between the grain and these other units within each system varies.
A pennyweight (dwt) is a unit of mass equal to 24 grains, 1 ⁄ 20 of a troy ounce, 1 ⁄ 240 of a troy pound, approximately 0.054857 avoirdupois ounce [1] and exactly 1.55517384 grams. [2] It is abbreviated dwt , d standing for denarius – (an ancient Roman coin), and later used as the symbol of an old British penny (see £sd ).
The obsolete troy pound was divided into 12 ounces, rather than the 16 ounces per pound of the avoirdupois system. The apothecaries' system was traditionally used in pharmacology, but has now been replaced by the metric system; it shared the same pound and ounce as the troy system but with different further subdivisions.