This is our first coin weight and it is in excellent condition. In general, pistole (or pistol) was a common name across Europe for a foreign gold coin. On English weights the name refers to the French louis d’or issued 1640 - 1709, or the Spanish 2 escudos issued from 1598, which had almost the same weight. In French, ‘pistole’ means a gold coin of value ten francs and has a ‘pirate treasure’ connotation rather like that of ‘pieces of eight’. The only issue of a gold coin actually called a pistol (=5 Thalers) was by Braunschweig-Luneburg in 1803.
