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I recently purchased a digital scale from eBay.

According to the listing it can weigh in the following units:

Multiple Weighting Units: g, oz, tl, ct.

Screenshot of that page:

Units of weighing

Now I know that "g" is grams, "oz" is ounces, and "ct" is carats (and the figures displayed agree with that) however what is "tl"?

If I measure a 10g reference weight it shows as 0.853 tl, thus 1g is 0.0853 tl. Allowing for slight measurement errors (the last significant figure changes a bit with different measurements) I can't find any unit of weight that "tl" could correspond to.

The closest in name I could find is "tael" but the conversion factor doesn't agree. (10g is 0.264555 tael).

10g in tl

The unit also measures in grains (gn) although that is not advertised.

The device only measure up to 200g, so I imagine that whatever "tl" is will be some sort of measurement of jewellery or similar.

So, my question is: What is tl?

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2 Answers 2

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It could be a tola. 1 tola = 3/8 troy ounce (exactly) = 11.66g (approx.), so 10g = 0.857 tolas. If the scale has an accuracy of 0.01g (it's not very clear from the ebay description!) that would be near enough what is displayed in the picture.

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  • $\begingroup$ It looks like you have it! The scale has an accuracy of 0.01g if you buy the 200g maximum model (the 500g model has an accuracy of 0.1g). The last significant digit changes, but earlier I got 0.857 tl for a 10g weight. $\endgroup$
    – Nick Gammon
    Feb 20, 2017 at 8:41
  • $\begingroup$ The scales came from Hong Kong, and India and Singapore (which uses the Tola from your link) isn't far away. That seems very plausible. $\endgroup$
    – Nick Gammon
    Feb 20, 2017 at 8:45
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tl is a measure of weight in Asia and is the tael. 1 tael is equal to 1.5 oz or 50 grams.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes, but if you look at the photo in the question, 10g was 0.853 tl, so if what you say is right then 50g would be 4.265 tl, which it clearly is not. $\endgroup$
    – Nick Gammon
    Aug 13, 2021 at 7:30

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