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Using Euro coins as weights (2004)

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180 points Tomte | 4 comments | 20 Oct 24 10:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.261s | source
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georgecmu ◴[20 Oct 24 13:53 UTC] No.41895374[source]▶
Soviet coins (at least post 1961) were designed explicitly with this application in mind.

1, 2, 3, and 5 kopeck coins weighed their value in grams. They could also be used to estimate lengths; 1 kopeck was 15 mm in diameter and 5 kopeck was 25 mm.

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1. t-3 ◴[21 Oct 24 02:23 UTC] No.41900174[source]▶
That's a very cool intentionally usefully design. What's the rationale behind a 3-kopeck coin though? I don't think I've seen a '3' denomination in any other currency.
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2. BoxOfRain ◴[21 Oct 24 08:39 UTC] No.41901950[source]▶
I think pre-decimal pound sterling coins had a 3p coin, but it makes more sense in that context.
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3. alistairSH ◴[21 Oct 24 11:07 UTC] No.41902870[source]▶
Kopecks are 100th of a ruble. If they were ever a non-decimal value, it predates the early 20th century.
4. georgecmu ◴[21 Oct 24 12:09 UTC] No.41903276[source]▶
So I never looked into it closely, but I knew that the 3 and 15 kopeck coins had names of their own of Tatar origin, so it had to have had a long history.

According to wikipedia [1,2,3], as a physical coin it was minted periodically throughout Russian history. The Tatar origin of its informal historical name is either 'gold'[4] or 'six'[5].

It was last introduced in 1839-1841 and persisted into Soviet period, until 1991 when it was discontinued by the newly independent Russia. The 1/2/3/5 weight system had to be of the Soviet design, since the metric system was adopted following the Bolshevik revolution, but the weights and dimensions haven't changed since 1926 [6].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruble#Russia's_coins

[2] https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%BA%D0%B...

[3] https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%BD...

[4] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%82%D1%8B%D0%B...

[5] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%82%D1%8B

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_ruble#Coins,_1924%E2%80...