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tael

In Asia, a unit of mass variously defined. In the 20ᵗʰ century¹:

• Cambodia and Japan, = 37.50 grams.
• China (and Hong Kong and Macau, prior to reabsorption), where it is used for silver and = 1 lĭang = 10 mace, approximately 37.8 grams. But see tael troy, below.
• In Thailand, approximately 60.7 grams.

1. United Nations, 1966.

1

The actual theoretic weight, apart from any question of the quality of silver, is not ascertainable with any degree of certainty. The present Statistical Secretary, using an official weight of 100 taels dated 1867, which had been verified at Canton by a weight of 1846, found it to be 581.55 grains. The result of independent tests at Canton in the same year (1905) gave a weight of 581.83 grains, while the estimates of other Commissioners range from 581 to 589 grains. Mr. Pascal Martin, in 1880, after very careful inquiry, decided on 581.47 grains; Mr. H. Kopsch (Statistical Secretary, 1891-97) found it to be 587.66 grains; and Mr. E. C. Taintor (Statistical Secretary, 1873-76) fixed it at 582.94 grains. The only outside authority to which appeal can be made is in the Treaties. By the Trade Regulations annexed to the British Treaty of 1858 the "picul of one hundred catties is held to be equal to one hundred and thirty-three and one-third pounds, avoirdupois," giving a catty of l 1/3 lb av. and a tael of 1 1/3 oz. av., equal to 583.3 grains; while the Regulations annexed to the French Treaty of 1858 fix the picul at 60 kilos. and 453 grammes, which gives a resultant tael of 37.783 grammes or 583.1 grains.

H. B. Morse.
Currency in China.
Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 38 (1907)
Shanghai, etc.: Kelly and Walsh.
Pages 40-41.

2

Another name for the Chinese liang.

3

In Hong Kong, 20ᵗʰ – 21^st centuries, the tael troy, a unit of mass used for gold, = 37.429 grams. 1 tael troy = 10 mace troy = 100 candareen troy.

4

On the island of Sumatra, two distinct units of mass, varying by locality.

Doursther (1840) lists the following magnitudes:

Doursther then comments:

Nous ferons observer que les poids du tale d'Achem, indiqué ci-dessus, d'apres toutes les métrologies, est basé sur d'anciennes donnés, de l'exactitude desquelles on peut douter, d'autant plus que ce poids ne s'accorde en aucune manière avec ceux des autres parties de l'ile Sumatra, telles que Bencoulen et Fort-Marlborough dont les poids ont été vérifiés a Londres sur des étalons reçus directement en 1821.

We observe that the weight given above for Achem, following all the metrologies, is based on old data, the accuracy of which one may doubt, especially since this weight does not agree in any way with those of other parts of the island of Sumatra, such as Bencoulen and Fort Marlborough, whose weights were verified in London based on standards received directly in 1821.

Odd as this inconsistency seems, it appears to be genuine:

The most established weight in trade, is the tial or tael, which differs however in the northern and southern parts of the island, being in Natal twenty four penny weights, nine grains [37.9 grams], and at Padang, Bencoolen and elsewhere, twenty six penny weights, twelve grains [41.2 g].

William Marsden.
The History of Sumatra… Second Edition.
London: Printed for the author, 1784.
Page 136.

Kelly (1835), who had the active cooperation of the British East India Company and made a special effort to ascertain East Asian weights accurately, also states “the tale differs in the Northern and Southern parts of the island” (page 112). He gives the following magnitudes:

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Last revised: 27 March 2017.