Looking for bit of character

Press, 6 September 1983, Page 12

Looking for bit of character

Collecting with

Myrtle Duff

I have never quite forgiven the French Revolution for having initiated the takeover of all our measurements by the metric system.

It was so much more human to imagine the height or width of someone or something in terms of hands or feet. The universal “kilo” can never quite replace the individual character of the old stones and pounds.

It is true one can still win by a nose, stand a head taller, or be beaten by a whisker, but. in general a cold sameness prevails. It is presided over, at least so far as weight is concerned, by a cylinder of platinumiridium alloy kept by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures at Sevres, near Paris.

The idea had first been mooted in France as early as 1670, by one Gabriel Mouton. But it was not until 1790 that Talleyrand persuaded the National Assembly to direct the French Academy of Science to prepare a report on the subject. After years of further research and debate a final decision was made in 1795 to adopt a metric system for the definition of length, mass, and capacity. So the foundation was laid for today’s spreading standardisation and conformity.

The word “weigh” originally meant to carry or bear. It is obvious that primitive man could have had no other means of assessing or comparing weight except to do just that — lift and compare the weights of different objects or creatures.

For linear measurements, hands and feet were conveniently available, and for liquids or grain, natural containers such as shells or hollowed out gourds served the purpose. The British system also used in New Zealand until the middle of this century had evolved from that in use by the Romans during their 400-year occupation of Britain.

It had actually developed from a single grain of wheat. Enough of these gathered together formed an ounce, and these in turn comprised the Roman libra ponao which later became our sixteen ounce pound.

We are all familiar with capacity measurements described in all but the most modern of cookery books — one tablespoon or teaspoon; a breakfast cupful, a teacupful or even a handfull.

Though obviously incapable of providing accurately gauged portions of the ingredients, they served us well for many generations. I certainly can claim no greater success in my culi-

nary experiments using the new standardised, metric measures than I achieved with the old.

From a collector’s point of view the measuring vessels of greatest interest are most likely to be those of pewter, glass, or sometimes silver, used to measure ale and other beverages most often consumed in congenial company in public houses. Only the Chinese seem to have used sound for measurement.

Vessels said to contain a certain quantity of any sub-stance-were required to resound at a certain pitch when struck. A false note indicated an insufficiency of content.

It seems a pity that this test could not be adapted in some way for use by today’s supermarket customers.

Some measure of standardisation was inevitable as the human desire to exchange surplus goods and food developed into organised trade. With today’s almost instant communication available among people all around the world, a universal system was bound to happen. So why not make the most of it, and begin collecting some of the many interesting weights and measures before it is too late?

The variety of objects available in this field makes

it a category suitable for the collector who likes to specialise, and also for those who just like to browse, picking up something interesting here and there.

As I have mentioned often before, Christchurch collectors are well catered for by many knowledgeable, helpful, and reliable dealers. In most of their establishments it is possible to find something pertaining to weighing and measuring.

Those illustrated with this article are from Merivale Antiques in Papanui Road. The craftsman-made scales of earlier times are most attractive. They are often quite beautiful and well worth a place in any home just as an ornament. Once again, we are indebted to the Romans for the word itself. Scala, a. ladder being quite logically transferred in meaning to any orderly, graduated method of measurement whether for musical notes or distance in space.

For collecting purposes, however, it usually means the many types of instruments of all sizes, used to measure weight. Portable gold scales in tiny pocket-sized cases are reasonably plentiful, and one should certainly be sought for any reasonably comprehensive collection.

In New Zealand we are more likely to find Victorian examples than those from earlier ages. But our European settlers usually came with little hope of ever returning to their homeland, and so brought with them as many family treasures and domestic utensils as possible. So there is always a chance of finding older pieces. I always find kitchen scales attractive. The Victorian ones with their cast iron stands and shining brass pans are particularly so.

Later examples fitted with a spring measuring device ana usually having beautifully decorated ceramic dials are a real joy. Weights are perhaps more plentifully available than sets of scales, and are extremely interesting in their own right. From the mid-nineteenth

century on they come in many shapes, sizes, and materials. I like the pottery ones best, but they are also hardest to come by.

Wat Avery weights in cream glazed pottery with attractive decoration and clear markings are most attractive, but there are many other types well worth seeking.

Brass cylindrical weights, iron “pie-shaped” and “bunshaped” ones, and others made to stack neatly in piles. These are all from our own recent past. If you venture into other ages and other countries, the variety is endless. In one of the excellent little Shire Album booklets, J. T. Graham, once a senior officer in the weights and measures department of a local authority in Britain, comments on the impact of these objects on all our lives.

He writes: “We are weighed at birth and measured when we go. In between these two occasions there are not many aspects of our existence in which weights and measures do not play a part.” Indeed, even afterwards there are those who tell us our good deeds will be weighed against the bad.