4th century AD or later. A bronze square weight with a later stamped image on the upper face, depicting a Roman signifer, a standard-bearer, with a lion-skin draped on his head and shoulders, gripping an aquila standard with an eagle gripping a wreath; behind, a pugio dagger; below, a lightning bolt. See Eastern Roman squared weight examples in Entwistle, C., ‘The Early Byzantine weights from Kunszenmarton, Hungary’ in Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Budapest, 67 (2016), pp.287-300. 73 grams, 42mm (1 1/2"). From a North Yorkshire collection formed since the 1980s; thence by descent. The administration of ‘official’ weights and measures in Late Roman Empire was devolved to a number of imperial and civic personnel. For much of the 4th century the supervision of weights was administered by the aediles or agoronomoi of each city. A law of Julian II, preserved in the Codex Theodosianus, appoints an official known as the zygostates (literally ‘weigher’) to each city to control the issue of weights and settle any disputes between buyer and seller. [No Reserve]

Fine condition.