# One Ounce worth of American Coins **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928 "2008-10-21T19:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/1 "2008-10-21T19:31:34Z")
I’ve got a crappy sprung loaded postage meter that I’d like to check for accuracy. I know a nickel weighs exactly 5g or 0.1615 troy ounce, which is apparently not a real ounce. I believe there are 12 troy ounces to the pound, and WTF is that all about? So, what is the closest I can come to an ounce (the real ounce, with 16 to the pound) with brand new U.S. coins? ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/2 "2008-10-21T19:44:00Z")
5 quarters are an ounce (avoirdupois). That’s close enough for most postal accuracy–and any other commodities you might be wanting to weight.😉 A troy ounce is 480 grains, vs. 437.5 grains av. A troy pound is 5760 grains (12 troy ounces) vs 7000 grains av. (16, duh, ounces) ---
**Author:** ![Apex\_Rogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Apex\_Rogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apex_Rogers)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/3 "2008-10-21T19:47:20Z")
I think the closest you’ll get is using 5 quarters. According to [google](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=4f2&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=ounce+to+gram&spell=1), > [@](#): > > 1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams Using the figures from [US Mint](http://www.usmint.gov/about_the_mint/?action=coin_specifications) website, a quarter is 5.67g. 5 \* 5.67g = 28.35 This ought to be close enough to test your postage meter. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/4 "2008-10-21T19:47:35Z")
Wouldnt an extra stamp be cheaper then all the change you have to use? ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/5 "2008-10-21T19:59:47Z")
Only if you were only going to go over by one ounce twice, or two ounces once. Any more than that, and testing your accuracy would be worth the five quarters. (5 \* $.25 = 1.25, 3 \* .42 = $1.26) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/6 "2008-10-21T20:16:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Wouldnt an extra stamp be cheaper then all the change you have to use? Only if your postal scale uses up the coins and you can’t get them back. You take some coins out of your pocket, use them to test the scale, and then put them back in your pocket. Net cost: zero. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-ounce-worth-of-american-coins/468928/7 "2008-10-21T22:01:42Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 5 quarters are an ounce (avoirdupois). That’s close enough for most postal accuracy–and any other commodities you might be wanting to weight.😉 > A troy ounce is 480 grains, vs. 437.5 grains av. > A troy pound is 5760 grains (12 troy ounces) vs 7000 grains av. (16, duh, ounces) Thanks, I seemed to recall that there was some combination of coins that worked out to be an ounce, and 5 quarters is damned close. I knew ever since I was in college that there were about 7 grams in a quarter ounce.