mail scale made by Viig & Vralsen & A.P. Foss
Google Translate determined the text KUN LOVLIG VED POSTVERKET of the balance arm as being Danish. That turned out to be incorrect. Ole Ravnholt from the Stubbekøbing Museum in Denmark had more language skills and he informed me it's Norwegian. The translation reads: LEGAL ONLY AT THE POST OFFICE. After contacting the Lillehammer Museum in Norway, it is absolutely certain a Norwegian postal balance. These balances were used in the period 1950 - 1970. On the right side of balance arm it says Lovl. fra 4g - 1kg Translated: Legal from 4g - 1kg. With this balance came a set of calibrated weights with the values 10g, 20g, 40g 100g, 125g, 250g and 500g. All weights bear the logo of the Post, and a logo of presumably the Norwegian calibration system and a number. Also on the balance arm is the NJV1 logo twice and the number 51. I don't know yet what the abbreviation NJV1 stands for. On the central cast iron part are poorly recognizable the letters VV&APF, those are the initials of Viig & Vralsen & A.P. Foss, from Oslo, Norway. This is the company that made this letter balance. Other copies, seen in photos at the Norwegian Digital Postal Museum, have the word PATENT in place of the letters VV&APF. I haven't been able to find that patent yet. The maker's name Viig & Vralsen & A.P. Foss sometimes on the balance arm and the legal weighing designation has been changed to Lovl. fr 10g - 1kg.
Below are some more pictures of this sturdy Norwegian Post letter balance.
the stacked weights that came with the balance
