I can't give you the history, but Troy pounds and ounces are only used for very precious metals, specifically gold and platinum. Use seems to be limited to gold and platinum traders and dealers. I think jewelers use avoirdupois ounces and/or grams. Typical jewelers don't handle the pure (or practically pure) metal anyway. In Hong Kong, the gold dealers use taels and grams. I know that, because I've bought gold chains in Hong Kong (in the days when I had a reasonable amount of disposable income <g>).
Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Behalf Of Predrag Lezaic >Sent: Friday, March 12, 2004 15:10 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Cc: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:29186] Re: conversions > > >Sorry, I don't get it. For all the products that I tried which have dual >measurements listed they all seem to be using that Avoirdupois stuff. >Does anyone know why there are two different things? > >PL > >Pat Naughtin wrote: > >>Dear Predrag, >> >>Q: Which is heavier -- an ounce of gold or an ounce of lead? >>A: An ounce of gold. >> >>Q: Which is heavier -- a pound of gold or a pound of lead? >>A: An pound of lead. >> >>Explanation: 1 Gold is measured in Troy ounces (1 Troy ounce >= 31.1035 >>grams) and lead is measured in Avoirdupois ounces (1 Avoirdupois ounce = >>28.349 523 grams). So an ounce of gold is heavier than an ounce of lead. >> 2 There are 12 Troy ounces in a Troy >pound (1 Troy >>pound = 373.242 grams), but there are 16 Avoirdupois ounces in an >>Avoirdupois pound (1 Avoirdupois pound = 453.592 37 grams). So a pound of >>lead is heavier than a pound of gold. >> >>And don't forget to differentiate between dry ounces, that >measure mass, and >>fluid ounces, that measure volume. >> >>Cheers, >> >>Pat Naughtin LCAMS >>Geelong, Australia >> >>Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication >>matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words >>subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>-- >> >>on 2004-03-12 17.36, Predrag Lezaic at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> >> >> >>>I have been using this site >>>http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/EASYweight.html to convert grams >>>-ounces etc but was surprised when I had a choice between troy or >>>avoirdupois ounces. What the heck is this? Like one is not complicated >>>enough. It turns out that products that I am importing from europe are >>>using avoirdupois conversio. >>> >>>Thanks, >>>Predrag >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >
