letter balance made by Narcisse Briais
This balance came from France. The N.B. logo is on the right top plate. This is the logo of Narcisse Briais. Narcisse Briais was a French instrument maker who crafted letter scales and balances between 1859 and 1886. The N.B. logo was introduced in 1876. After 1886 G. Restorf took over the company and continued to apply the N.B. logo. In 1914 Restorf discontinued the company. After this M. Ducos used the logo N.B. on his letter scales in the period 1915-1926 and from 1927-1931 M. Guérin continued to apply the N.B. logo still on letter scales (source: Le Système métrique 1997-3, page 1124). This complicates a precise date, it can be at its largest between 1876 and 1931. From Narcisse Briais, or from his successors, letter scales have been shown already, see the photographic scale, the Loth letter scale, de herbs & powder scale, and the déposé letter scale.
Below some more images of this letter balance.
back of the scale
