Pennyweight is derived from the price for a hundred nails in 15th century England: the larger the nail, the higher the cost per hundred. The pennyweight also bears no relation to the weight of the American "penny" (1 cent) coin, which weighs 2.5 g (for those minted after 1982). Pennyweight A pennyweight (abbreviated dwt, from denarius weight) is a unit of mass that is equal to 24 grains, of a troy ounce, of a troy pound, approximately 0.054857 avoirdupois ounce and exactly 1.55517384 grams. In the Middle Ages, a British penny's weight was literally, as well as monetarily, of an ounce
Troy weight 7716 BI grains, but after the union, rounded to 7680 BI grains. This divides to 16 ounces, each of 16 drops, each of 30 grains. The rounding makes the ounce and grain equal to the English standard. The Dutch troy system is based on a Mark, of 8 Ounces, the ounce of 20 Engels (pennyweight), the Engel of 32 As. The mark was rated as 3798 Grains, English troy, or 246.084 metric grams. The divisions are identical to the tower system. The troy system was used in the apothecaries' system, but with different further subdivisions. King Offa's currency reform replaced