Ezra 8:27
Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold.
Also twenty basins of gold, of a thousand drams,.... Which were upwards of 1000 pounds of our money; for Bishop Cumberland says {e}, the Persian "daric", "drachma", or "drachm", weighed twenty shillings and four pence; and, according to Dr. Bernard, it exceeded one of our guineas by two grains, See Gill on "1 Chronicles 29:7"
and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold; which perhaps is the same with the Indian or Persian brass Aristotle {f} speaks of, which is so bright and pure, and free from rust, that it cannot be known by its colour from gold, and that there are among the cups of Darius such as cannot be discerned whether they are brass or gold but by the smell: the Syriac version interprets it by Corinthian brass, which was a mixture of gold, silver, and copper, made when Corinth was burnt, and which is exceeding valuable; of which Pliny {g} makes three sorts, very precious, and of which he says, it is in value next to, and even before silver, and almost before gold; but this sort of brass was not as yet in being: Kimchi {h} interprets the word here of its colour, being next to the colour of gold.
{e} Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 115.
{f} De Mirabilibus, p. 704, vol. 1.
{g} Nat. Hist. l. 34. c. 1, 2.
{h} Sepher Shorash. rad. bhu.