This 145 gram weight appears to me to be a To/Chinthe, though with a straight line seemingly cut into the base (why the line?)

I would be grateful for opinions as to type, whether genuine or fake, and estimated age.

Thanks in advance for your assessments.

Hi Peter.
accordimg to my nomenclature (look at the gallery of hartmut Mollat) your piece is a To (T2). 10 Tical. Age ca. 1680. Genuine!
Good luck!
hartmutmollat

Dear Hartmut, Dear Michael,

Thank you both very much for your assessments. I’ve only been to Myanmar/Burma a few times since 2011, and I am certainly a novice when it comes to these weights. Therefore, I’ve found the photographs and discussion posted on this forum to be quite helpful, and Hartmut’s A Model Chronology of the Animal Weights of Burma has also provided good food for thought. I look forward to receiving a copy of the May/June issue of Arts of Asia, which contains the article you both recently co-authored.

I do have a few more weights, yet to be photographed, which I intend to post on the site in the future. One of these, in particular, may be somewhat more ‘interesting’, but certain aspects of its apparently very good condition make me wonder if it could be a well-executed imitation. More on that when I post the photos!

So far, I have focused on weights that seem to fit into generally well-known patterns, show signs of wear and usage, and appear to have some form of ‘patina’ – though I understand that all of these can be faked. It becomes a bit more frustrating, though, when one is confronted with a weight that is in some way a bit out of the ordinary or whose condition seems unusually good.

While I have read the threads in this forum addressing the issue of fakes, I note that many of the photo links originally posted appear to have gone dead. It would be nice if those links could be reactivated, or if new threads and photo-links addressing how to distinguish genuine weights from fakes could be posted.

Michael, thank you for showing these great photos of some of your weights. They really are impressive. I hope that I will be able to find some that are equally nice during my visit to Myanmar/Burma. Despite all the uncertainties inherent in identifying real ones, I do find that I enjoy the hunting process.

Once again, many thanks to both of you for your helpful observations and for making this such an interesting forum.

All the best,
Peter