letter balance, made by Narcisse Briais, France
This is a pretty old letter scale from France. This version is probably from before 1862. With the weight of 2½ grams together with that of 5 grams, the French weight limit of 7½ grams for letter mail can be set on the balance. That weight limit was used in France until 1862. Only in postal traffic between France and Great Britain (from 1833) and between France and Prussia (from 1837) the rate per 7½ grams was used until 1875. The balance is a design of Narcisse-Eugène Briais from Paris in France. The NB logo of Narcisse Briais, is already on this letter scale. Narcisse Briais was a French instrument maker who produced letter scales and balances between 1859 and 1886. The N.B. logo was introduced from 1876 onwards. 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, pp.1124).
back of the letter scale
