Carat (mass) g or possibly up to 5 g less. Therefore, the metric equivalent of 1 "siliqua" was approximately 189 mg. The Greeks had a similar unit of the same value. Gold fineness in carats comes from carats and grains of gold in a solidus of coin. The conversion rates 1 solidus = 24 carats, 1 carat = 4 grains still stand. Woolhouse's "Measures, Weights and Moneys of all Nations" gives gold fineness in carats of 4 grains, and silver in pounds of 12 troy ounces of 20 pennyweight each. Carat (mass) The carat (ct) (not to be confused with the karat,
Troy weight system. The origin of the troy weight system is unknown. Although the name probably comes from the Champagne fairs at Troyes, in northeastern France, the units themselves may be of more northern origin. English troy weights were nearly identical to the troy weight system of Bremen. (The Bremen troy ounce had a mass of 480.8 British Imperial grains.) An alternative suggestion is that the weights come from the Muslim domains by way of the Gold Dirhem (47.966 British Imperial grains), in the manner that King Offa's weights were derived from the silver Dirhem (about 45.0 British grains). According to Watson,