The Cologne Mark was a unit of weight equivalent to 233.856 grams. It was introduced by the Danish King Hans in the late 15th century and was used as a standard for weighing metals. It came to be used as the base unit for a number of currency standards, including the Lübeck monetary system, which was important in northern Europe in the late Middle Ages, and the coinage systems of the Holy Roman Empire, most significantly the conventionsthaler, which was defined as one tenth of a Cologne Mark.
The Mark was defined as half a Pfund (pound) with 16 Unze (ounces) to the Pfund. The Unze was subdivided into 2 Lot, 8 Quentchen, 32 Pfennig or 36 Gran, with the Gran equal to 0.812 grams.
Famous quotes containing the words cologne and/or mark:
“Ever notice how these European trains always smell of eau de cologne and hard boiled eggs?”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“Love’s mysteries in souls do grow,
But yet the body is his book.
And if some lover, such as we,
Have heard this dialogue of one,
Let him still mark us, he shall see
Small change, when we’re to bodies gone.””
—John Donne (1572–1631)