|
|
|
| Miners Improved Gold Scale Closed | MINERS’ IMPROVED GOLD SCALE - Tin cased miners gold scale, dark green exterior and interior color, marked MINERS’ IMPROVED GOLD SCALE in gold letters across top front and in gold letters MANUFACTURED EXPRESSLY FOR CALIFORNIA across bottom front with a classic spread-wing gold American eagle in the center clutching an olive branch and three arrows in its talons and bearing a shield across its breast, 5 ½ in. wide x 3 in. deep x 1 3/16 in. high in rectangular shape, brass beam, pans and chains with 5 troy weights in a 4-hole wooden block pinned through the case (The California Gold Rush produced a number of “California Goods” to identify and to be identified with this great adventure; boots, knives, brandy, and gold amalgamators filled the bill to name a few along with the miners pocket gold scales shown here; these pocket scales date from the 1850s and perhaps into the 1860s and came in a variety of bright colors including light and dark green, royal blue, dark yellow, ocher brown, red, and maroon among others and in both oval and rectangular shapes in sizes from up to 7 in. long by up to 3 ½ in. wide and 1 ½ in. deep; most were marked Miners’ Improved Gold Scale as the model shown here; little is known about the makers, although some are thought to be German; all have brass beams, pans and suspension chains although some have iron pointers as the scale shown here; troy weights were typically included; an earlier pocket scale marked Miners Gold Scale without the Improved are found and equipped with string pan suspensions rather than the brass chains; acquired from Dennis Kurlander; see Millet, Mining Artifact Collector #8, pp 25-27) | |
| Total images: 113 | Last update: 5/5/10 6:50 PM | Help | |