Coins of the pound sterling another silver coin, the sceat, of 20 troy grains weight, which was in general circulation in Europe during the Middle Ages. The weight of the English penny was fixed at troy grains (about 1.46 grams) by Offa of Mercia, an 8th-century contemporary of Charlemagne. The coin's designated value, however, was that of 24 troy grains of silver (one pennyweight, or of a troy pound, or about 1.56 grams), with the difference being a premium attached by virtue of the minting into coins. Thus, 240 pennyweights made one troy pound of silver in weight, and the monetary value of 240 pennies
Troy weight displaced it. Where once 240 pence made a tower pound (and 256 make a troy pound), by the time of the United Kingdom Weights and Measures Act of 1824, a troy pound gives 792 silver pence, still minted as such as Maundy Money. Sterling originally referred to the Norman silver penny of the late 11th century. The coin was minted to a fineness of 11 oz, 2 dwt (in the pound), or 925 Millesimal fineness. Troy weight Troy weight is a system of units of mass customarily used for precious metals and gemstones. One troy ounce (abbreviated "t oz" or