Definition

• American Scale.  A linear measurement expressing the total number of sixteenths of an inch. Widely used in 19th century American catalogs describing medals indicating objects from 1/2 to 4 1/8-inch size, thus this scale employed numbers only from 8 through 66. It was not scientific, nor did it need to be, as the nearest 1/16th of an inch (1.5875mm) was accurate enough to express any diameter (trimming of any medal with
  + 1.5mm was considered satisfactory). Use of the American scale continued somewhat into the 20th century (for U.S. Mint List Medals until the 1970s) but it has now been entirely replaced by metric millimeters and centimeters for measurements of all coin and medal items.  See diameter, measurements and weights in appendix.

  excerpted with permission from

  An Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Technology

  For Artists, Makers, Collectors and Curators

  COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY D. WAYNE JOHNSON

  Roger W. Burdette, Editor

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