BEREND HOLSBOER
letter scale

Berend Holsboer letter scale

I bought this letter scale once made by Berend Holsboer from Arnhem, Netherlands on an internet auction. The letter scale had a rather strange top plate, with one side folded up, see the picture below. This was done to avoid hitting the central stand while weighing. That top plate is clearly not original and the length of the vertical tube part under the top plate is simply too short. The connection of the top plate to the tube was crudely constructed and ugly. There was also an ugly abundant solder connection of the tube and the part with the opening in which at rest the scale comes in between. The question was how this letter scale must have originally looked like? Thanks to Ritzo Holtman, editor of the journal Meten & Wegen of the Dutch Society GMVV, and his Literature section at the website of the GMVV, and then with help of the Association De Hollandse Cirkel, and of Mr Leen Aardoom, and then of Mr Hendrik Holsboer, a great-grandson of Berend Holsboer, this became obvious. On one of the photos in the album "B. Holsboer, Werktuigkundige, Arnhem" is a table with among others, two postal scales, see the picture below. The letter scale shown on the right is clearly the letter scale that I bought! Through measuring it became clear how long the replacement tube had to be. I also replaced the lower short tube due to the rather large play at the pivots. Mr Hendrik Holsboer was so kind to send me his handmade construction drawing of the top plate made by carefully measuring a similar plate of another letter scale owned by him. The letter scale is completely disassembled, cleaned and polished. Both tube parts are replaced. With the jigsaw I cut a new letter tray out of brass plate and then perfected the circular form with file and a lot of patience. I soldered a small cylindrical rod on the bottom of the new plate, and now this connects the top plate to the tube section. The large part of

back of the letter scale

the mechanism with the dial and upper lever had already lost the original blackening. Therefore, I polished away the still present original blackening of the short lower lever and of the pivot brackets, and in this way provided a calmer color image to the letter scale. Only the pointer is kept black in order to maintain the large contrast for reading.
An extensive article (only in Dutch) about Berend Holsboer is written by dr.ir. Leen Aardoom in Geo Info 2010 11/12 pp. 10-15 with the title "Berend Holsboer (1832-1895) mechanicus te Arnhem". Previously a smaller Holsboer letter scale is shown, see this Holsboer.
Gr. is engraved in the scale. Gram is the unit of measure. The scale goes up to 250 grams. From zero up to 200 grams it has a stripe of measure per each gram. Moreover these stripes are longer each 5 grams and per 10 grams the measure is specified in engraved numbers. Above 200 grams up to 250 grams the scale is subdivided per five grams and also has numbers per ten grams. The makers name B. Holsboer and the place Arnhem are in small capital letters engraved in the scale. Very special is that the scale has the following added figures: at 15g is a 1, at 50g is a 2, at 100g is a 3, at 150g is a 4 and at 200g is the figure 5. Through extensive search on the site of historical newspapers, articles and so forth, named Delpher, I have traced parliament papers about the 1871 Postal Act, and also was able to look into newspaper announcements about the new postal rates by January 1, 1871. My assumption was confirmed: the aforementioned numbers 1 up to 5 are the number of postal stamps of 5 cents that one should stick. The 200g with the number 5 determines the dating. This tariff border did not exist before January 1, 1871, and was already gone at March 15, 1882. Therefore, this Holsboer letter scale can be dated to the period from January 1, 1871 until March 15, 1882.
Below are many images of this beautiful Berend Holsboer letter scale.

two Holsboer letter scales on a table next to -among others- a measuring chain and a leveling instrument. This is a photo from the album of B. Holsboer, Mechanic, Arnhem (Special thanks to Hendrik Holsboer)

the Holsboer letter scale as purchased

the restored and refurbished Holsboer letter scale

the original Holsboer letter scale (Special thanks to Hendrik Holsboer)

animation: unloaded scale and scale loaded with 100g

scale loaded with 100g

scale loaded with 200g

scale loaded with 250g

1 at 15 grams

2 at 50 grams

3 at 100 grams

4 at 150 grams

5 at 200 grams

the restored Berend Holsboer

fragment of the Zierikzeesche Nieuwsbode of December 22, 1870 mentions from 150 up to 200 grams costs 25 Cents, that is 5x the postage for a letter of single weight and that will cost 5 Cents

the Holsboer next to a smaller Holsboer

B. Holsboer is the maker	B. Holsboer Arnhem at the lower edge of the scale	B. Holsboer was located in Arnhem
the black left pointer	the new flat top plate	bracket with the main pivot
scale with a stripe per each gram	graceful ball head	scale protrudes through opening

scale protrudes through opening	scale protrudes through opening	scale protrudes through opening
per gram a stripe of measure up to 200g	the counterweight	extreme right Gr. engraved
bracket with the lower pivot	beautifully made lower pivot	pivot at the tube side

the lower lever	the lower lever	the lower pivot
3 supports are with a screw connected to the stand, moreover each support has its own positioning pin	the three slender supports	vertical cut into the stem nut, a trick to prevent jamming of brass on brass