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
Pennyweight the alternative drams and grains measurement has been used since a new set of scales was purchased by the Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Society in 1937. As of 2018, the world record for the heaviest gooseberry of 41 dwt 11 gr was held by Kelvin Archer of Cheshire. The most common abbreviation for pennyweight is "dwt"; "d", for the Roman "denarius", was the abbreviation for "penny" before Decimalization of the British monetary system. Alternate abbreviations are "pwt" and "PW". Although the abbreviations are the same, the pennyweight bears no relation to the weight of the American penny nail. That name