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Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018

 

Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018
As we have come to expect over the years, our annual October get-together was a wonderful afternoon spent at the home of our gracious hosts Mary and Jerry K. There is always a good turnout of folks at these meetings, but we may have set a record with eighteen Scalies in attendance as we welcomed several who had not joined us in previous years. The day was spent catching up with each other on the things going on in our everyday lives, as well as seeing Jerry's incredible collection and viewing and learning about the scales, weights and measures featured for Show and Tell.

Steve and Kathy B. brought a cased French coin scale that appears to be almost identical to an earlier English version made by the famed John Joseph Merlin. However, Merlin died in 1803, a few years before the French coins for which this scale was intended were issued, so who made it is a mystery. With her fluency in French, Daniele L. helped with the translation of the label and gave some guidance on its use. Using the coin weights Steve and Mike F. brought, it was confirmed that this scale was made to check the 20 franc and 40 franc gold coin issued by Napoleon, as well as the half gold Louis D'Or and the Louis D'Or, valued at 24 and 48 francs respectively.

Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018 Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018

The other Steve B. had a set of nesting weights marked in stones for a person scale made by Thomas Weeks, successor to Merlin. He also brought a large Dearborn-style Gold Standard Balance, found at a Maine auction earlier this year. This balance is illustrated in a letterhead/trade bill engraved for Benjamin Dearborn of Boston in 1805, and subsequently used by his successor Henry Plympton starting in 1828, so it could have been made by either firm. It was used to weigh relatively large quantities of gold coins, and is not as decorative as the smaller versions sometimes seen.

Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018 Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018 Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018

Kurt B. showed a large cased set of measures used in Rhode Island, and stamped N. K. S. 1893, North Kingstown Sealer. In addition, he displayed a lovely ornate English postal scale with a registration mark on one of the unique weights, which indicates it was registered to Joseph Ratcliff in 1856.

Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018As an interesting side note, Jerry had a copy of the western antique newspaper Old Times Vol 28 No 9 September 2018 that a friend had given him. The whole first page was all about ISASC accompanied by numerous photos of scales. The information about our Society was obtained at our convention last May in Minneapolis by two reporters who spoke with some of the attendees. The article is quite extensive covering parts of seven additional pages with photos of several of our members as well as some scales from their personal collections. It's very gratifying to see ISASC get some great media coverage.

Foood is always an important part of the visit and this time didn't disappoint. The huge tray of oversized cookies of different varieties set out on the kitchen island seemed to be constantly surrounded. As we ate and gabbed, the hours flew by and before we knew it, the time had come to depart. However, we are all looking forward to spending more quality time together at the annual convention next May in Austin, Texas.

Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018 Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018

Mid-Atlantic Scale Summit 2018