Object Record
Images
Additional Images [24]
Metadata
Object ID # |
1971.013.007abc |
Object Name |
Scale, Apothecary |
Title |
Counter-Style Apothecary Scales |
Lexicon category |
5: T&E For Science & Technology |
Year Range from |
1880 |
Year Range to |
1901 |
Made |
E. Mairet? |
Place of Origin |
Europe |
Description |
Apothecary (druggist) scales with marble top and brass pans. The case has burl walnut inlay insertions, with a shaped, white-coloured marble top. The carcase of the scales is made of black-finished wood, which has angled corners and a slightly jutting-out edge at the bottom. The front has an oval-shaped glass window which has a brass "Garter" design escutcheon around it. Viewed inside the window is a white surface, which has two vertical, elliptical holes. Each hole has a corresponding brass pointing arrow. Its original weights were donated later on (see 1972.093.001 a-g). On the front of the varnished wooden base is "E. Mairet Direct Usinesdella-Mulatiere Portee 15 Kil". There is lion crest with a crown atop it. The two brass pans are recessed. The center of their top surfaces has a mark impressed that consists of a crown, a five-pointed motif, and "V" and "R" flanking a crown. The brass pans sit on brass cross-piece holders (which have a width of 2.3 cm). The holders have upturned ends to keep the pans from shifting. The holders have short sleeves on the bottom which fit onto the red-painted rods that operate the scales. The rods are surrounded where they rise up from the marble top by mushroom-cap-shaped brass rings. The weights would have had an Imperial Standard weight to each one. |
Makers mark |
"E. Mairet Direct Usinesdella-Mulatiere Portee 15 Kil" "CANADA / S" |
Provenance |
May have been used in connection with J. G. Spragge's grocery business in Owen Sound, Grey County (Priest & Spragge). A very similar-looking counter scale is seen in a photographic image of the interior of the W. H. Taylor drug store in Owen Sound, Ontario in the 1890s. The stamped VR stand for Victoria Regina (Queen Victoria) which dates it to before her death in 1901. Last owned by Marjorie Spragge of Owen Sound, Grey County. |
Collection |
Pharmaceutical Equipment Collection |
Material |
Marble/Brass/Wood/Glass/Metal |
Dimensions |
W-58 L-25 cm |
Found |
Owen Sound, Grey County |
People |
Spragge Spragge, George Spragge, Marjorie Taylor, W. H. Priest, Arthur C. |
Subjects |
Drugstores Stores & shops Weights & measures |
Search Terms |
Poulett St. (Owen Sound) Owen Sound Businesses |