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images and Buddhist art
Buddha collection.

Catalogue Archive.


Catalogue No. 31:
Kids VII - Summer 2023

Burmese Weights (opium weights)

Catalogue No. 30-I:
Christmas Special 2022, Part I

Asian Art & Antiques

Catalogue No. 30-II:
Christmas Special 2022, Part II

Burmese Weights (opium weights)

Catalogue No. 29:
111 Shan Beauties - Summer 2022

111 Shan Beauties - Summer 2022

Catalogue No. 28:
The Christmas Special 2021

The Christmas Special 2021

Catalogue No. 27:
The Christmas Special 2020

The Christmas Special 2020

Catalogue No. 26:
Late Summer Sale 2020

Late Summer Sale

Catalogue No. 25:
The Christmas Special 2019

The Christmas Special 2019

Catalogue No. 24:
The Kids VI

The Kids VI - June 2019

Catalogue No. 23:
The Christmas Special 2018

The Christmas Special 2018

Catalogue No. 22:
The Christmas Special 2017

The Christmas Special 2017

Catalogue No. 21:
The Kids V - August 2017

The Kids V - August 2017

Catalogue No. 20:
SOLITAIRE 2017

SOLITAIRE 2017

Catalogue No. 19:
The Christmas Special 2016

The Christmas Special 2016

Catalogue No. 18:
Summer Sale 2016

Summr Sale 2016 - Catalogue no. 18

Catalogue No. 17:
The Kids IV - Spring 2016

The Kids IV – Catalogue no. 17

Catalogue No. 16:
The Christmas Special 2015

The Christmas Special 2015

Catalogue No. 15:
The Weights of the last Kings

The Weights of the last Kings

Catalogue No. 14:
Christmas Special 2014

Christmas Special 2014

Catalogue No. 13:
The Kids III

THE KIDS III

Catalogue No. 12:
THE COLLECTION

THE COLLECTION

Catalogue No. 11:
Christmas Special 2013

Treasures among Birds & Lions

Catalogue No. 10:
The Kids II

The Kids II

Catalogue No. 9:
TWENTY TICAL

TWENTY TICAL

Catalogue No. 8:
Christmas Treasures 2012

Christmas Treasures 2012

Catalogue No. 7:
The Bird Cage

The Bird Cage

Catalogue No. 6:
The Lions of Burma

The Lions of Burma

Catalogue No. 5:
The Kids

The Kids

Catalogue No. 4:
Christmas Special 2011

Christmas Special 2011

Catalogue No. 3:
Bird Weights

Bird Weights

 

Museums / Asian Art Collections / Universities:  

Museo Della Bilancia, Via Garibaldi 34/a, 41011 Campogalliano (Modena) - Italy (www.museodellabilancia.it)

Durham University, Oriental Museum (https://www.dur.ac.uk/oriental.museum)

Northern Illinois University, Collection of the Center for Burma Studies

 

Collectors associations:  

European Union to Search for, Collect and Preserve Primitive and Curios Money (EUCOPRIMO)

Maß und Gewicht, Verein für Metrologie e.V.

Gewichten en Maten Verzamelaars Vereniging

 

Publications, sources and further readings:  

Arts of Asia with the publication on the bird-shaped weights of the Shan Principalities of Burma:

Summe Issue 2021

Michael Herrfurth and Hartmut Mollat
"SHAN BEAUTIES
BIRD-SHAPED WEIGHTS OF SHAN PRINCIPALITIES OF BURMA"
Arts of Asia - Summer Issue 2021


Arts of Asia with the publication on the animal-shaped weights of Burma, the "Opium Weights":

SPECIAL BURMA ISSUE

Michael Herrfurth and Hartmut Mollat
"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
ANIMAL-SHAPED WEIGHTS OF BURMA"
Arts of Asia - Special Burma Issue, May - June 2013 Edition


Leif Bering Mikkelsen: Opium Weights

Leif Bering Mikkelsen: Opium Weights

This book not only deals narrowly with old weights from Southeast Asia. It also describes how trading,
valuation and means of payment in the area have developed and how concepts such as quantity,
weight, currency, value, coins and money were and to some extent still are close interwoven in the
Southeast Asian countries. The book also describes the symbolic radiance of the “Opium weights” as
the weights are called today, and tries to put them into a historical perspective. By setting the weights
into a context, it has also to some extent been possible to date them and to show that the use of these
weights was an integral part of that culture which in former days existed along “the Southwest Silk Road”.


Hartmut Mollat "A Model Chronology of the Animal Weights of Burma (Myanmar)"
Anthropos 104 / 2009, 533-542, 2009
Free Download (pdf-file 6,5 MB)

Joachim Gabel "LAO WEIGHTS AND THE LUANG SYMBOL"
source: Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 97, 2009
Download this publication here (623 KB).

Steven Martin "The Art of Opium Antiques"
Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, 2007

Donald and Joan Gear "An Ancient Bird-shaped Weight System from Lan Na and Burma"
Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, 2002

Donald and Joan Gear "EARTH TO HEAVEN, The Royal Animal-Shaped Weights of the Burmese Empires"
Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai, 1992 / 2000

Hartmut Mollat "Über Fälschungen asiatischer Tiergewichte"
Zeitschrift für Metrologie, Heft Nr. 22 (6/1992 pp. 507-509) and Heft Nr. 24 (8/1992 p. 568)

Hartmut Mollat "Die Standardformen der Tiergewichte Birmas"
Baessler-Archiv, Neue Folge, Band XXXII, 1984

Rolf und Ilse Braun "Opiumgewichte / Opium weights / Poids d'Asie"
Pfälzische Verlagsanstalt, Landau, 1983

Sylvia Fraser-Lu "BURMESE 'OPIUM' WEIGHTS"
Arts of Asia, Vol. 12, Issue 1, 1982
Buy this issue used.

John F. Dean "Conservation and Stabilization of Palm Leaf and Parabaik Manuscripts"
source: Cornell University Library, Ithaca NY 14853 | 607-255-4144
Download this publication here.

 

Publishing houses:  

River Books, Bangkok / London (www.riverbooksbk.com)
Silkwormbooks, Chiang Mai, Thailand (www.silkwormbooks.com)

 

Art forums:  

Asian Arts Forum (www.asianart.com)

Opium Weights Forum (https://www.opiumweights.de)

 

Asian art magazines:  

Arts of Asia - The Asian Arts and Antiques Magazin (www.artsofasianet.com)

Orientation - The magazine for collectors and connoisseurs of Asian art (www.orientation.com.hk)

 

Friendly recommended:  

Dr. Owen Wrighley: "The Politics of Deafness"

 

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