Good day everyone!

I’ve only recently started to read and learn more about Burmese animal-shaped weights but I travelled a few times to southeast Asia and noticed them for the first time during a trip in Laos. I visited Burma last year and had in mind to look into weights if any came my way…I’m confident with the classification of most items I found there but one…

I also came across this weight and I have been puzzled for quite some time about its classification. It has many characteristics of T1D but also has the appendage of a Chinthe. I don’t know if it had a handle at any point in time, there are marks that could suggest it on the back of its head but I can’t tell for sure.

This reminds me of another picture posted by Owen where a beast shows characteristics of different types ==> transitional form?

Dimensions : octagonal base – 7.2 x 7.5 cm / height 10.9 cm
Weight : 1564.5 grams
Verification mark : 9 st

Hi Michael! Thanks for the feedback, greatly appreciated! I had a similar thought process after reading "Earth to Heaven" and Hartmut Mollat's publication...

Here are some pictures of the bottom of the weight.

Have a great day,
Guillaume

Thanks for your feedback Michael!

Hi carbonyle,
I want to add some ideas to your fine weight. First of all, it is a rare piece which I have not seen before. My biggest weight of this form is a slightly damaged 50 TicalI weight. I think the body of your piece is a typical To-body and has no aspects of a slim chinthe. The form in total is so perfect, that I - like Michael- would tend to believe it is genuine.
However, I would like to add a little bit of water to the wine. In spite of the age of ca. 260 years the general aspect of the weight is rather fresh. Aditionally I have never seen that the lines on the stand avoid consecuently the edges. They always go coninuously round about leaving free only the field of the mark. I have seen this type of mark with the broad strokes only on Chinthes. The T1D-mark consista normally of 9 short narrow strokes or points. The handle is missing.
Enjoy your weight! My objections may be caused by a craftsman with an individual inspiration. Anyway, in case of a fake the faker copied the original perfectly. For a final valuation one must hold the weight in hand!
Best,
hartmutmollat

Good morning Hartmutmollat,

Thanks a lot for your feedback, you bring very interesting points to think about, as always...!
That also confirms that finding a 50 ticals T1D will be quite a search...send me back to Burma!

Have a great day!
G.