2077b

Gold Rush Table Top Assay Balance

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Scales Start Price:500.00 USD Estimated At:1,000.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Gold Rush Table Top Assay Balance
SOLD
550.00USD+ (115.50) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2016 Oct 01 @ 14:54UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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Marked “CS” “1859” on the back of the top of the brass vernier. 14.5” tall from top of wood base to top of vernier. 16.5” across from edge of pan to edge of pan. Two identical pans, 5.25” diameter, 1.5” deep, round and symmetrically concave. Non-standard wood base. This is a 7 x 1.5” piece of timber. It is heavily used, and also non-standard size, thus appears to have been the base for perhaps a century or more. This scale has been in the collection of long time Gold Rush Collector Don Schmitz of Nevada City. He at one time owned the contents of Ott’s Assay Office, though this scale did not come from there. The scale comes with two sets of weights that are composed of weights made by at least three different manufacturers. One set is marked “troy”; another set with standard apothecary nomenclature; a third set independent of both the previous. One flat weight set composed of eleven different weights is within a wood box (18 weights in all). There are a number of interesting and notable characteristics about this balance and weight set. First, it is very consistent with other assay balances of the gold rush period. Second, the pans appear original to the balance, and have a small lead soldered spot at the bottom of one pan to assure equal weight with the other pan. Some of the weights also show similar lead adjustments. These attributes generally represent “early” pieces, as the manufacturing was far less consistent during the 1850’s, depending upon the company. The “CS” may represent C. Staudinger of Giessen, Germany. John Shannon, in The Assay Balance (1999, p38), discusses Staudinger. (This is the only assay balance made by a company with these initials). The man himself owned the company from 1842-1863, and after 1863 used the name “C. Staudinger & Co.” It makes sense that this may be a German originated assay balance. The gold rush brought the need for assayers, and many that came to California were from Germany. The list includes many of the great ones: Harvey Harris, Rhuling, Reihn Hemme, Humbert, Molitor and more. City: State: California Date: 1859 Inventory# 41266