lot (unit)

The Lot (formerly also written ''Loth'') was a unit of measurement of mass, which was mainly used in German-speaking states of the Holy Roman Empire and in Scandinavia.

It was replaced in the German Reich in 1868/69/72, in Austria in 1871/76 and in Switzerland in 1875/77 by the metric unit of measurement, the gramme. But in the early 20th century it was still used as a popular unit of measure in cooking and baking recipes.

An imprecise but clear rule of thumb is that a ''lot'' corresponds to a "spoonful".

Old ''Lot''

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the following weight system was traditionally used:

(trading) ''Pfund'' = 1 ''Lot'' = 4 ''Quents'' = 16 ''Pfennig'' weights = 32 ''Heller'' weights

The ''Lot'' had different weights in the various German states depending on the definition of the ''Pfund'' ("pound"); its definition also varied over time. However it was mostly set at between 14 g and 18 g. Some examples:

* 14.606 g before May 1856 in Prussia, Anhalt, Hesse, Homburg, Frankfurt am Main, Lippe-Detmold, Schaumburg-Lippe, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Nassau, Reuss, Saxony, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg, Saxe-Gotha, Saxe-Weimar, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Waldeck and Württemberg
* 15.1 g in Mecklenburg-Schwerin
* 15.2 g in Lübeck
* 15.6 g in Baden, Bremen and the Grand Duchy of Hesse
* 15 = 15.625g in Württemberg
* 15.9 g in Saxe-Meiningen
* 17.5 g in Austria
* 17.6 g in Bavaria

New ''Lot'', ''Zoll-Lot, Postlot''

On 27 May 1856, an act concerning "a common state weight" system was issued in Prussia for the German Customs Union (''Deutscher Zollverein''). This redefined the weights as follow:

* 1 ''Pfund'' = 0.5 kg
* ''Last'' = ''Center'' = ''Pfund'' = 1 ''Lot'' = 10 ''Quents'' = 100 ''Cents'' = 1,000 ''Grains''

1 ''Lot'' corresponded to 16.666 g and at the same time to a ''Vereinstaler'' fine. It was thus also used as a unit of silver fineness within the monetary system. See Lot (fineness).

In comparison tables of old and new units of measurement of the same name in Prussia, the pre-1856 ''Lot'' (and also other units of measurement) was often used with the prefix "old" and the new ''Lot'', valid from 27 May 1856, with the prefix "''Neu''" ("new") or "''Zoll''" ("customs"). The post office also used the term ''Postlot'' from 1858.Leopold Herzka: ''Der Bauratgeber. Handbuch für das gesamte Baugewerbe und seine Grenzgebiete.'' Springer-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-70919-993-0, p. 4.''Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon''. Vol. 16, Leipzig 1908, p. 221.

Apart from Prussia, this classification of weights also applied in Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Saxony and the Thuringian states.''Allgemeine deutsche Real-Encyklopädie für die gebildeten Stände. Conversations-Lexikon.'' 11th, revised, improved and expanded edn. Vol. 9: ''Konradin bis Mauer.'' Brockhaus, Leipzig 1866, pp. 567 f., keyword ''Loth;'' ebd., Vol 11: ''Occupation bis Prämie.'' Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867, p. 634, keyword ''Pfund''.

In north-western Germany, on the other hand, the unit system was adapted more closely to the metric system at the same time. In Brunswick, Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Lübeck, Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe the lot was defined as a tenth of a ''Zollpfund'' = 50g. In the other states, the pound remained divided into 32 lots.

In Austria and Bavaria there was for a time a "metric ''Lot''" of 10 g (repealed by law in 1888). In Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, this metric ''Lot'' lives on as the decagramme to this day.

See also

* Old Polish units of measurement
* Obsolete Finnish units of measurement
* Obsolete Russian units of measurement
* Obsolete Tatar units of measurement

References

{{Reflist

External links

* :sk:Libra (hmotnosť) an extensive (20+) list of values (in grams) a pound had at various times and places in Europe
* :bg:Фунт (единица) a historical value of lot in Bulgaria

Obsolete units of measurement
Units of mass