Dollar gold to silver ratio be exactly 15.5. Then a pennyweight of gold, that is 24 grains of gold, is nearly equal in value to a dollar of silver (1 dwt of gold = $1.002 of silver). Second, a dollar of gold is nearly equal in value to a pound of silver ($1 of gold = 5754 3/8 grains of silver = 0.999 Lb of silver). Third, the number of grains in a dollar (371.25) roughly equals the number of grams in a troy pound (373.24). The actual process of defining the US silver dollar had nothing to do with any
Grain (unit) England, re-iterating decrees that go back as far as King Offa (eighth century). The tower pound was one of many monetary pounds of 240 silver pennies. The pound in question is the Tower pound. The Tower pound, abolished in 1527, consisted of 12 ounces like the troy pound, but was (~6%) lighter. The weight of the original sterling pennies was 22½ troy grains, or 32 "Tower grains". Physical grain weights were made and sold commercially at least as late as the early 1900s, and took various forms, from squares of sheet metal to manufactured wire shapes and coin-like weights. The