In India, from ages, we have weighed our royalty- both borne and elected- using various things. (It is interesting to note that renowned Marathi-Farsi poet Madhav Julian माधव जूलियन् was weighed in footwears just after his birth because he would not stop crying - "Aamchi Akra Varshe" by Leelabai Patwardhan)
Inflation seems to have affected even that practice!
Artist : James Stevenson Publication: The New Yorker 7 Nov 1964
And how are we middle class people coping with it when even our neighbourhood shopkeeper is so scared……..