letter balance

maker: maker Narcisse Briais, Paris, France bruine lijn

letter balance made by Narcisse Briais

This balance for letters comes from France and bears the NB logo of Narcisse Briais, from Paris. Narcisse Briais was a French instrument maker who produced letter scales and balances between 1859 and 1886. The N.B. logo would have been introduced from 1876. After 1886, G. Restorf took over the company and he continued to use the N.B. logo. Restorf stopped his company in 1914. After that, M. Ducos 1915-1926 and from 1927-1931 M. Guérin, continued to use the N.B. logo on letter scales manufactured by them. (source: Le Système métrique 1997-3, page 1124). This gives the NB period the years 1859-1931. This letter scale with the characteristic balance arms with round and openwork parts is already depicted on a page of a Restorf catalog from April 1895. The scale was originally nickel-plated, this layer has largely disappeared. The balance was offered with 5 different weight sets. The three weights present here probably do not belong to the scale shown, because they do not fit nicely into the recesses. The weights are 2 x 100 grams and 1 x 25 grams.

back of the balance

The domestic postal weight limits in France in the period 1862-1910 are 10, 20, 50 and 100 grams. So the weights of 10, 20 and 50 grams are missing. I have not taken into account the deviating postal weight limits from France to Prussia from 1837-1875 (11¼, 15, 22½, 30, 37½g)and from France to Great Britain from 1833-1875 (7½, 15, 22½, 30, 37½g).
Other scales of Narcisse Briais have been shown earlier, see here, here, here, here, here and here.
Below some more pictures of this Narcisse Briais letter scale.

side view	remains of the nickel layer are just visible	side view
from above	the logo of Narcisse Briais	three recesses for the weights
the layer of lead under the disc is to provide balance	four wooden support feet	the bottom of the oval letter plate

« collection part 20 «

version: December 31, 2019