Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial systems.
The Weights and Measures Act 1835 formally established the present imperial hundredweight of 112 pounds (50.80 kg).
[3] The short hundredweight is commonly used as a measurement in the United States in the sale of livestock and some cereal grains[4] and oilseeds, paper, and concrete additives and on some commodities in futures exchanges.
However, since the increasing usage of the metric system in most English-speaking countries, it is now used to a far lesser extent.
Older blacksmiths' anvils are often stamped with a three-digit number indicating their total weight in hundredweight, quarter-hundredweight (28 lb (13 kg), abbreviated qr), and pounds.