In fact, from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties, silver was just a valuable property, equivalent to gold jewelry, without functions of money. It was not until the Ming and Qing Dynasties that silver from all over the world poured into China. At this time, silver began to become an official currency and circulated in the market. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, silver in the market mainly circulated in the form of "silver ingots", which are now called "ingots". However, due to technical limitations, the shapes of ingots are varied. Of course, in order to prevent counterfeiting, when making ingots, the production time, place, weight and even the name of the craftsman are usually engraved on the ingots for future tracing.
So, how did the ancients weigh the broken silver? In fact, the ancients said that silver generally used something called "Swallow Scale". This is a precise instrument for weighing, but it is a small steelyard. In ancient times, it was generally used to weigh gold and silver, as well as precious drugs and spices. The dividing value of "Swallow Scale" is one centimeter, which is equivalent to 3 1.25mg now. Of course, besides weighing gold and silver, there is also a set of knives, hammers and scissors. , specially used for cutting silver. Under such circumstances, broken silver was born, and a so-called "silver throwing shop" was born. This is a shop for changing silver.
If there really is an unequal settlement with silver, and the man can't accurately judge the actual value of broken silver at all, then this situation is impossible.