These photographs (1 to 23) were taken around 30 years ago. They represent the normal standard forms of the animal weights of Burma/Myanmar ("opium weights") collected by the author in Burma in a period of more than two years. The terms were taken from my papers 1984 and 2009. The latter in English may be downloaded here:
https://www.opiumgewichte.com/links/Download.html

Apart from the very rare genuine old T1A and Pyu (pumpkin) forms and some varieties of Shan-forms and Arakan-forms of the 19. century the collector of these weights may keep in mind, that in my opinion there have been no other original forms in use. The fakers of today develop a rich fantasy founding spiders, snailes, cows, tortoises, horses and strange forms of lions and ducks. Some collectors make a mistake buying fakes which show an interesting curious design which can never be grouped. They do not realize, that a buyer in a market wanted to see weights he was familiar with. See also my posting "Thai figurines and charms".

The mass of the weights is noted. However, wear and tear mask the prevailing nominal weights of ca. 15 g/Tikal (lower standard = l.s.) until about 1700 and of
16,3 g/Tikal (higher standard = h.s.) afterwards.

After having sold most of my collection of "opium" weights I add some photographs to the gallery. I want to encourage you to collect the weights in sets which results in great satisfaction to the collector.

Finally I hope you will shut your eyes to my German English ...


Hintha 1A (283,1 g) and Hintha 1B (295,8 g). 20 + 20 Tical. I suppose that Hintha 1B developed from Hintha 1 A by lenghthening the neck and outlining feathers.
Look at the grooves in the convex wings. (l.s.)


Hintha 1A, set of 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 Tical. Strongly worn. (283,1 g, 147,1 g, 74,6 g, 28,9 g, 13,9g.) .(l.s.)


Hintha 1B; 20, 10 and 5 Tical (295,8 g; 143,9 g; 73,4 g). Convex wings


Hintha 1B; 1 Vis = 100 Tical (1443,7 g). (l.s.)


Hintha 1C (right); 20 Tical (312,6 g). To the left, you see a transition member (321,4 g) with its shape comig from
Hintha 1B. However, it shows already the 9star mark on an octagonal base and the higher standard


Hintha 1C; 20, 10 and 5 Tical. (312,6 g; 161,5 g; 77,1 g). The tuft of the 5 Tc weight is damaged. 9 star mark. The wings are concave. (h.s.)

All Hintha 1 forms have a "food" in the bill


Hintha 2A (front depression; 293,9 g), Hintha 2B (gha gyi mark; 277 g) All 20 Tical. (l.s.) and Hintha 2C (6 star mark and high standard; 319,6 g)


Hintha 2A; 20, 10 and 5 Tical (293,9 g; 150,2 g; 70 g). Rare food in the bill. (l.s.).
In contrast to H1A and H1B all Hintha 2 forms have concave wings. They are "sleeping ducks"


Set of Hintha 2B (H2B) 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical. (292,1, 142,6, 68,2 and 29,1 g). Comb and gha gyi mark are typical. (l.s.)
Rare food in the bill.


Set of Hintha 2C (H2C) 20,10, 5, 2 and 1 Tical (319,6, 162,1, 77,9, 32,8 and 16,3 g). (h.s.) 6 star mark
Food in the bill is less rare than on H2A and H2B.


Hintha 3A1; 50 Tical. 786,9 g. 6star mark (h.s.). Become aware of the cow feet on a Hintha!


Hintha 3A1; 20, 10 and 5 Tical (318,7 g; 159,5 g; 78,3 g). Two bands of neck feathers
Recently Michael Herrfurth found a bird mark on this form. Rare!


Set of Hintha 3A2 (H3A2). 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 Tical. (323,2, 160,4, 80,2, 32,3 and15,8 g). (h.s.). Long neck and 6 star mark.
Recently Michael Herrfurth found a bird mark on this form. Rare!


Set of Hintha 3B (H3B). 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and1 Tical. (1625,7, 812, 325,6, 157,3, 80,5, 32,5 and 16,2 g). (h.s.). Neck short, rare bird mark.


Hintha 4C, 4D, Karaweik 2 and Hintha 4A; Shan forms (81,9 g; 158,8 g; 162,1 g; 161,1 g) (h.s.) Take notice of the octagonal base of the Karaweuik
Apart from these characteristic forms there exist some variations


Set of Hintha 4A (H4A). 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical (303,1, 161,1, 77,9 and 32,8 g). (h.s.). Tail broad, 6 star mark except on 2 Tical downwards valid for all Hintha 4 weights! (may also have a bird mark!)


Set of Hintha 4A (H4A). 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical (303,1, 161,3, 83,4 and 31,5 g).(h.s.). Tail pointed (except 20 Tc), bird mark except on 2 Tical downwards (may also have a 6 star mark)


Set of Hintha 4A_2 (H4A_2) 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical (313,6, 166,5, 83,3 and 32,9 g). (h.s.) Doble comb


Hintha 4B; original set. 20, 10 and 5 Tical. (Shan form (321,6 g; 161,0 g; 80,1 g) (h.s.)


Set Hintha H4C (H4C) 20, 10, 5, 2 Tical (323,7, 161,2, 80,5 and 32,0 g) (h.s.) "Kissing Hintha", remnants of black varnish


Set Hintha 4D (H4D) 20, 10, 5, and 2 Tical (h.s.). (327,4, 158,2, 83,8, and 28,5 g).
20 Tc: comb is broken. Numbers on the stand mean 1283 burmese age corresponding to ca. 1921 AD.


Karaweik 1; 1 Vis (1569 g) (h.s) . See 13B


Karaweik 1; 10 and 20 Tikal (155,4 g; 318,3 g) and 20 and 10 Tikal (311,2 g; 162,0 g). There exist two types different in tufts of feathers
(left side 2+2; right side 3+1). Bird mark


Set of Karaweik 1_2 (K1_2) 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, and 2 Tical (1580, 797,1, 324,6, 155,4, 80,3 and 31,3 g) (h.s.). bird mark.
Typical is the double neck on the 20, 10 and 5 Tical weights combined with a double feather cover on the back


Set of Karaweik 1-3 (K1_3), 100. 50, 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical (1569, 784,322,5, 162,1, 77,8 and 31,7 g) (h.s.). bird mark
Typical is the triple neck on the 20, 10 and 5 Tical weights combined with a single feather cover on the back


To 1A; 10 Tikal; horse tail and lotus bud. Strongly worn out (143,3 g; 136,6 g) (l.s.)


Set of To 1A (T1A): 100, 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical (1391, 269,4, 136,6, 70,3 and 29,2 g). (l.s.). mark in front of the stand. The tail is a lotus bud.
100 Tc: Handle is lost. Lead bronze: 70 % Cu, 30 % lead.


To 1B; 50 Tical (751,2 g) (l.s.)


To 1B; 10 and 20 Tical (150,9 g; 294,7 g) seems to be the forerunner of
To 1C: 20 and 10 Tical (294,0 g; 149,8 g) (l.s.)


To 1C; 1 Vis. (1497 g). The circle mark was found on T1C and on H2A.


To 1C (T1C) : 50, 20, 10, 5 und 2 Tical (759, 294, 144,2, 74,3 and 30,0 g). Mark: hole in front of the stand
The beard has the form of a rod, demonstrated by the 20, 10 and 5 Tical weights.


To 1C (T1C): 50, 20, 10, 5 and 2 Tical (759, 290,4, 149,8, 74,8 and 30,0 g). (l.s.)
The beard is rolled up in pairs ("trifoil" in GEAR), demonstrated by the 20, 10 and 5 Tical weights.


To 2: 50, 20 and 10 Tical. (740,7 g; 300 g; 137,9 g). Unadorned but attractive. (l.s.)


To 1D; 20, 10 and 5 Tical (321,1 g; 162,9 g; 81 g). 9star mark. (h.s.)
The youngest To. Prior to 1776.


Chinthe 1; 20, 10 and 5 Tikal. (308,1 g; 161,4 g; 79,8 g).
The oldest Chinthe. Base octagonal. 4st mark. (h.s.).


Chinthe 2A; 20, 10 and 5 Tical. (287,9 g; 158,8 g; 80,2 g).
Copper inlays. Base square. 9st mark. No handles on 20 and 10 Tikals. (h.s.)
The decoration on the base of the 20 Tical weight leads to the frieze of notches on younger forms (Gear: short verticals). See Nos. 8, 13.
The nominal mass of the 20 Tc weight should be 326,6 g. It is evident that wear and tear led to a loss of 11,8 %!


Chinthe 2B; 50 Tical (798,3 g). 9st mark on square base


Chinthe 2B; 20, 10 (with handle) and 5 Tical (318,3 g; 158,9 g; 77,2 g). (h.s.). The latter is often substituted by a 4 Tical weight.