Weights have been made in many different shapes, including those of people and animals, but more frequently they are fashioned in geometric shapes like truncated spheres, ellipsoids, cylinders (drum weights), discs, pyramids, cubes, hexagons, octagons, cupcakes, bells and rectangular wafers to mention some. Sets of round flat brass weights usually nest within one another’ rims from heaviest to lightest. Nuremberg type weights are nested metal cups in a cup shaped container that were elaborately decorated during the 17th and 18th Centuries. The outer cup has a hinged top with a fastener and the cup itself is a precisely gauged weight. They were still advertised by distributors into the twentieth century. Very large weights will likely have a handle to hold and most cylindrical and round weights have a mushroom shaped knob or ring on top to lift by hand. Weights are typically inscribed or cast in relief to indicate their mass in ounces, grams, scruples, drams, drachmas, grains, pennyweights, carats, currency, or other units of measure. Up to a point the weights available control precision and that depends on a scale’s purpose. For example, a postal scale may only need to be accurate to within half an ounce, whereas a diamond scale needs 1000 times that precision.