Antique Opium Scale Weights

[Dioj]

Ages ago I bought one of those small, old fashioned opium scale weights in the shape of an animal up by the Burmese boarder in Mae Sai/Tachileik. Can't remember what I paid for it at the time, but I'm sure it wasn't much. 

 

I'm wondering if there are still a lot of these old weights around that are for sale by traders and if they have now become something valuable or collectible?

[Chetzee]

most of them were new copies  .... you'd need to offer up a photo to be sure .....       I remember in the 80's being told that those weights were Kips and Joys ..........    the smallest weight being a KIP ..... = 5 pipes of opium ...... after which you had a Kip ! 

[Dioj]

 

Thanks. I bought mine in the 90s. It weighs 310 grams. I can't tell you if it's a fake or not, but, when I bought it, it appeared to have some dust or dirt wedged between the feet of the animal so when I got home I stuck a tweezers in there to pull it out and it turned out to be a tiny piece of cannabis. After that, I assumed it was actually previously used in some sort of trade in the Golden Triangle, possibly between Thailand and Burma or Thailand and Laos.

 

Anyway, I had a look on eBay. I see they're selling similar ones to mine for around ฿2,000-3,000 plus another ฿1,000-1,500 for shipping to Thailand from overseas. I assume when I got mine I paid a few hundred Baht for it. Possibly 500 Baht at most. 

 

I'm not really concerned whether mine is real or not, but I wouldn't mind to get a couple more of around the same weight to add to this one on the shelf. I was thinking, maybe people would still sell them in Thailand. So I had a look on Facebook Marketplace but couldn't seem to find any. Perhaps they can still be found up in the north in markets and antique shops around Chiang Rai. 

Edited April 21 by Dioj

[scubascuba3]

I saw many of these in Laos years ago, i considered buying but they were quite common

[Dioj]

A few nice pieces shown here, but prices are high. Must still be some kicking around up north at lower prices. 
 

https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/collectibles/search?search_mode=all&excluded_terms=&term=opium+weight&payment_methods[]=paypal&payment_methods[]=delcampe_pay&display_ongoing=ongoing&display_state=ongoing&started_days=&started_hours=&ended_hours=&display_only=&min_price=&max_price=&currency=all&seller_localisation_continent=&seller_localisation_country=&seller_localisation_choice=world&view=gallery&order=sale_start_datetime