Balance
Balance
Usage conditions apply
- Description
- This small and heavily restored balance belonged to Joel Reed (1827-1900), owner of several gold mines in North Carolina, and it was probably used for weighing gold.
- The balance stands on a wooden box with drawer. The pans are deep, made of copper, and 4.75 inches diameter. The 12-inch steel beam is marked “J. WHITTY N. YORK” on front and back. The brass lifting lever is marked "PATENT."
- James Whitty was a New York City tinsmith who, at the time of his death in 1834, was described as a “Scalebeam Maker.” James Martine, a hardware dealer in Fayetteville, N.C., advertised “Whitty’s Patent Balances” in 1835.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- Balance
- Object Type
- Balances
- date made
- around 1830
- nineteenth century
- original owner
- Reed, Joel
- inheritor
- Reed, John Franklin
- maker
- Whitty, James
- place made
- United States: New York, New York
- Measurements
- carrier: 5 1/2 in; 13.97 cm
- box: 9 1/4 in x 16 3/4 in; 23.495 cm x 42.5704 cm
- each weighing pan: 4 3/4 in; x 12.065 cm
- arms: 13 1/2 in; 34.29 cm
- ID Number
- CH.321598
- catalog number
- 321598
- accession number
- 185076
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. John Franklin Reed
- subject
- Weights & Measures
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Chemistry
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Nominate this object for photography.
Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.
If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.
