Accession No

1000

Brief Description

folding coin balance, 1780 (c)

Origin

Maker

Class

balances

Earliest Date

1780

Latest Date

1780

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass, steel); wood (mahogany)

Dimensions

box length 135mm; breadth 24mm; thickness 15mm

Special Collection

Robert Whipple collection

Provenance

Donated by Robert S. Whipple to the University of Cambridge in 11/1944 as part of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science’s founding collection.

Inscription

Description Notes

Folding coin balance, c.1780

Single turn type. Brass beam graduated 0 - 12 pennies by 3 to 1 with 4 notches on side of beam before 0 for farthings over weight. Sprung slide. ‘H’ type hanger with concave cross piece; ‘doll’s head’ type coin plate with rectangular extension to hanger. Steel tips to hanger and column; off-set column erected automatically by hinge as lid of box opens. Brass link and rest. Mahogany box with clip fastening.

Condition: good; complete.

References

Events