Empress Maria Theresia of Austria reformed the measures and weights of the Habsburg monarchy in 1761. The weight of an apothecaries' pound of 12 ounces was increased to a value that was later (after the kilogramme was defined) found to be 420.009 g; this was called the . It was defined as  of the unusually heavy Habsburg civil pound (defined as  of the civil pound of Cologne) and corresponded to a record ounce weight of 35 g.
Before the reform, in the north of the empire, the Nuremberg standard had been in effect, and in Italy, the local standards had been even lighter. It is not surprising that an increase of 17% and more met with some inertia. The 1770 edition of the pharmacopoeia  still used the Nuremberg standard , indicating that even in the Austrian capital Vienna it took some time for the reform to become effective. In 1774, the  used the new standard, and in 1783 all old apothecaries' weight pieces that were still in use were directed to be destroyed.
Venice was not part of these reforms and kept its standard of approximately 25 g per ounce.
When Austria started producing scales and weight pieces to the new standard with an excellent quality/price ratio, these were occasionally used by German apothecaries as well.