Featured Antique Scales

Arrived today


Any idea what the function of this was?


And, under the lid:

The seller doesn't know who this Rev. Gardner might be. She thinks it was bought in England, or that it came from Indonesia.

 

And, together with the scales, came this

Any idea what this is?
14 cm in total, or 13 cm if you only measure the tube, and 1 cm diameter

 

There was British clergy in Indonesia, especially since the British period under Governor Raffles.

A Dutch Indonesian family I know used to have a hotel in the mountains of Java. There were no clergy in the vicinity, so every time a child was born they had to wait for passing clergy to baptise it. They didn't care about the denomination, as long as the child was baptised and safe. So one child was Dutch Reformed, one was Anglican, and two were Roman Catholic.

 

Re: The brass cylinder possibilities- a pocket cannon from the English Civil War/18th Cent document tube used by a spy/early apothecary device used to treat unmentionable diseases/or daresay.....could it be an attachable upright column upon which to mount the scales balance arms ?

 

A friend of mine had something similar come with a scale, and it held the smallest weights, but she wasn’t sure it was original. She *was* sure it wasn’t a great idea, because one couldn’t just remove a single weight unless it was the one on top, and the little felt circular pads between the weights had a death wish and would blow away at the slightest provocation.

 

-love it !

 

never seen anything like em before, way cool

 

one side is for loose material that had to be poured after weighing....

what would clergy in 1847 need that for..??

 

Thermometer case and those look like apothecary scales?

 

Look inside the lid, does it look like it could have had a glass thermometer cemented in to it?

 

To hold the lid closed, it would have had a hook to catch the loop on the lid.

 

This belonged to the seller's grandmother, and she had added a note in the box, saying it was for tea.

 

I didnt notice anything that could indicate that, but I will check again tomorrow (i.e. later today )

My imagination skills are failing me today, so I hae no idea what that would look like Do you have an image of a box with such a hook & loop?

 

that was what I thought initially, but one end is rounded.
Thermometer or weights case seem to be likely candidates.

 

ha...I knew it !

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1721674351
"Victorian Brass Tea Tasting Traders Testing Balance Scales Brass Boxed"

 

the pans sure look copper...

 

Never mind...