Farmer’s wife Janet Scarratt, 66, has built up a unique collection of antique weighing scales with her husband Noel over 34 years. What started out as a couple’s crusade against decimalisation became an addiction that has also proved to be a sound investment.
While the Midlands collector is unwilling to reveal the value of the cache, she is confident the scales are assets that have increased in value way beyond a conventional investment. She says: “I always describe them as my husband’s stocks and shares. We may eventually have to sell half of them to go into a care home, should we ever need to raise capital.”
Scarratt, who worked for an auctioneer as a cataloguer before her marriage, now chairs the International Society of Antique Scale Collectors (Europe). She says: “When decimal currency was introduced in 1971 we wondered what would happen to all the old avoirdupois scales and weights. Within a few weeks we had bought four brass bell-shaped weights costing £10 from a local butcher. We soon acquired many more brass and iron weights in various shapes – globe weights, cups, sugar bags, milk churns and skittles.
“Two years later we were in an antique shop in Shrewsbury when the dealer walked in with a small set of brass postal scales. I got quite excited because it had oval pans with malachite inserts, but I was worried a buyer might remove the stones and make them into brooches.
“The dealer wanted £50 for this brass and malachite set but we paid £45. They are five inches high with a rope twist base. Today the set would be worth £500.”
The malachite-panned scales were made by Sampson Mordan. Some of its other scales had inserts of marble, enamel, pietra dura, Wedgwood, crystal, and Limoges. Scarratt adds: “You would hope to find a supplier’s name on the scales, such as the firm Mawson, Swan & Marston of Newcastle. Other suppliers were Howell & James of Regent Street, Asprey, and R Luchars of Piccadilly.”
Scales and the weighing of items date back more than 5,000 years, when early civilisations such as the Egyptians began to use and develop simple balances.
People in Britain and Europe were only put in contact with the “new” invention from Roman times onwards. Scales were used for goods trading and led to fast and precise weighing in almost every sphere of life, from cooking and baking to weighing letters and gold bullion, and even weighing babies in pharmacies.
Avoirdupois (16 ounces to the pound) was used for most things, but Troy (12 ounces to the pound) was always used for coins, diamonds, precious metals, and the weighing of drugs by chemists.
Letter scales appeared in 1840 with the Penny Black stamp. Bread had to be weighed by law from 1836 to 1926. In Victorian times if a baker’s bread weighed half an ounce below what it should his punishment was transportation to Australia. Scarratt comments: “I have always wondered if this is where the expression baker’s dozen came from, so he could cover himself by selling 13 instead of 12.”
Porcelain weights, often made by Wedgwood or Copeland, were used to weigh butter and cheese. However, by 1902 these weights were taken out of use because they could give false weight if they were chipped. Today a complete set of porcelain Wedgwood weights would be worth about £3,000, and the scale plates £20 to £120 each.
Scarratt says: “The very rare porcelain weights had a white background with red writing and decoration, and four years ago I bought a very small four-ounce weight for £113. It has definitely gone up in value, possibly by as much as 50 per cent.
“Seven years ago we knew we had arrived as collectors as we had one of our scales – made of brass on a wooden base – featured on the cover of Equilibrium magazine. We bought these from a fellow collector for £350 more than 10 years ago. Now they would be worth £700.
“The rare things you tend to find from other collectors and the big auction houses in London.”
Two years ago Scarratt’s husband came across a treasure that he had coveted for a long time – a ladder scale for postage with two sets of weights. Degrave of London made these between 1863 and 1875. Versions of this scale existed before 1851 but the company secured the contract to supply the GPO in 1863.
Scarratt says: “My husband went to a local antiques fair and noticed that one of the dealers whom he knew well had put a ladder scale under the table. He asked if it was for sale, only to learn that the dealer had just sold it. Noel ran after the buyer and offered to give him a profit, but he said he wanted to keep it for the NEC Fair, so he was obviously a dealer.
“Noel asked the original dealer where he had found the ladder scale. He had bought it at a car boot sale for £20. After he had cleaned the brass, which was on a wooden base, he sold the item for £600.
“When Noel came home I could not stand the tension and suggested he contact the purchaser again. We went over to see him, and he kindly agreed to sell. We ended up giving him £1,200. The same year we were offered £2,500 for it. The scales are not unique, but there are very few in such good order around.”
