ERHARD & SÖHNE
letter scale
on decorative platter

maker of decorative platter: Erhard & Söhne, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
scale part maker: Philipp Jakob Maul, Hamburg, Germany

letter scale, on Erhard & Söhne decorative dish

The special feature of this letter scale is the decorative dish. The scale mechanism is known as model Fertig by Philipp Jakob Maul from Hamburg, Germany. The Fertig patent DE228054 dates from 1909 and became public in 1910. Elsewhere on this website there are other versions of Fertig scales, see for example this one with links to other Fertig scales.
The scale base was made by Erhard & Söhne from Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany. The base has a (bur walnut?) wood top layer with a beautiful brass pattern inlaid into it. This Intarsia manufacturing technique was protected by several patents. The earliest patent AT8914 was granted in Austria in May 1902 to Ernst Hugendubel from Stuttgart. In Germany, the same Ernst Hugendubel from Stuttgart obtained the patent DE148510 on 24 February 1903 for the method of inlaying metal intarsia into wood. This Hugendubel had a company in umbrellas together with Theodor Bücher. In 1904 Theodor Bücher joined Erhard & Söhne and the brass inlay technique in wood were then developed under the supervision of Theodor Bücher at Erhard & Söhne extensively applied to all kinds of luxury products. Various beautiful patterns were devised by several designers and artists and produced as products in the company.
The Erhard & Söhne company was founded in 1844. By 1900, there were 3,000 employees! Between 1900 and 1910, the company exported many of their exceptionally well-made dollhouse products to America. Previously I showed a fire-gilded dollhouse letter scale made by Erhard & Söhne, see here.
On an Erhard catalogue page found on the internet, four different letter scales are shown next to each other, see lower on this page. On the left is the Fertig model shown here with a dish as a base, then two scales with a zero adjustment screw in the scale base and on the far right a Fertig model as shown earlier, see this letter scale on decorative base. In addition to the scale foot depicted here

back of the letter scale

with curved brass bands ending in leaves, there is also an Erhard scale base with a straight square pattern of brass inlaid in wood, see the photo lower right on this page.
The scale is 140 millimeters high, the letter plate is 68 mm round, the diameter of the decorative dish is 98 mm, the dish edge is 15 mm high. The weighing range is 100 grams with a stripe of measure per gram. The values ??0, 15, 20, 40, 50, 60, 80, and 100 are in numbers. On the pointer arm is the abbreviation DRP (= Deutsches Reich Patent). The pointer arm is weighted at the end with a brass round rod, the M logo of Philipp Jakob Maul is on the front surface, and in very small, barely legible letters Fertig. The dish is assembled, the intarsia part is a separate part that is clamped on the dish bottom, see the photos at the bottom of the page. The photos show the still unpolished scale, also a letter plateau and indicator strip were missing. The letter scale is made complete and polished again. Below some more images of this beautiful special Erhard & Söhne letter scale.

side view

animation: place 50 grams on the letter plate
[move the pointer over the photo]

side view

the unit of measurement Gr. stands for gram	the M logo with Fertig in it in very small letters	the weighing range is 100 grams
the intarsia plane of the dish is higher in the center	the bottom with 3 support points and the mounting nut in the middle	the bottom of the brass letter plate
the underside of the intarsia surface shows the solder used to fix the brass to the mesh support	DRP is written in the pointer arm	the polished intarsia part