Spanish version of the Briais letter scale
This is a very old letter scale. It is a design by Narcisse-Eugène Briais from Paris in France. The design was protected on July 11, 1856 with a patent FR28419. The beautiful title of the patent reads: Brevet d'invention pour des perfectionnements apportés aux balances dites pèse-lettres. This was followed by some additions to the patent in 1857 and 1858. There are various versions of this model. There are differences between the wooden part and the letter plate. In the book Pèse-lettres ou Balances postales, guide de collection en français by Williams Archambaud are pictures of various variants. It also contains the aforementioned patent, with the text and the figures. A slightly thicker and battered version was previously shown on this website, see here and see also the three photos at the bottom of this page.
The NB logo, the well-known logo of Narcisse Briais, is not yet on this letter scale. There is, however, a first different logo on the back. In an oval is written N. Briais, below it is BREVETÉ (= patented) and underneath the abbreviation S.G.D.G. (Sans Garantie Du Gouvernement = without guarantees from the government). Narcisse Briais was a French instrument maker who manufactured letter scales and balances between 1859 and 1886. The N.B. logo is said to have been introduced from 1876. After 1886 G. Restorf took over the company and continued to use the N.B. logo. In 1914 Restorf stopped the company. Thereafter, the N.B. logo was still used on letter scales by M. Ducos 1915-1926 and from 1927-1931 by M. Guérin (source: Le Système métrique 1997-3, page 1124). Letter scales by Narcisse Briais, or by his successors, have been shown before, see the photographic scale, the Loth scale, the herbs & powder scale, and this déposé scale.
Before I have seen examples of this wooden letter scale for use in France, in Italy, in Belgium, and now also for use in Spain. PESE-LETTRES is on other copies in place of land.
back of the ESPANA letter scale
