Beam balance scale

A jewelry scale with a set of weights for modern gold coins, dated back to the 1780s, comes from the famous workshop of Johann Daniel vom Berg, from the former city of Lennep (today a district of Remscheid near Düsseldorf), which at that time belonged to Bavaria-Pfalz. The steel beam balance scale has a shape typical for this period with goose-neck ends and two brass pans (scales) suspended on strings. Monetary weights, i.e. objects with a standard weight for a given type of coin, were used to check the correct weight of a coin. Seven brass weights in the shape of a truncated pyramid with a handle are located together with the scale in a wooden box. On each of them, apart from the name of the denomination, one can find an image of the heraldic lion of the former Duchy of Berg. There is also a label which was put on the inside of the lid with the manufacturer’s name and a fragment of the date “178”. This means that the scale was produced in the 1780s, between 1782, the year in which Johann Daniel vom Berg received his master’s patent, and 1789. Scales of this type were very common in early modern Europe. The sets of weights attached to them could be expanded up to 20 pieces and intended for weighing various denominations from various mint systems, e.g. French louis, Austrian crowns or English guineas.