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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;rrdenarius, post: 3195292, member: 75525&quot;]Recently I was interested in two lots offered only a couple of days apart. The one I wanted most was a Roman steelyard scale, see it below. I also wanted a scale wight that had VNCIA marked on the top. I wanted the VNCIA weight because those marks indicate a relatively old weight =&gt; more likely to be Roman Republic. I held my money for the scale. Second guessing says I probably could have purchased both in my budget, but I wanted the near complete scale more.</p><p>We have talked a lot about bidding philosophy here. In this case I am glad to have the scale even if it means I passed on a piece I might have won in my budget. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]825686[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I bought an interesting, and small, Roman Steelyard scale in a recent auction. The length of the beam is 150 mm (6&quot;). This scale has two fulcrum points, or weight ranges (low and high). Weight range is switched by rotating the load hook 180 degrees and using the other fulcrum point.</p><p><br /></p><p>The scale is good but not the best design available in ancient Rome. Scale accuracy is a function of repeatable distances between the fulcrum hanger, load hanger and weight hanger. The most accurate design had load and fulcrum points in the center of the scale arm and used football shaped dowels, see pics below of my small steelyard scale and two different 19th century scales.</p><p><br /></p><p>The weight range of this scale is indicated by stamped dots or lines on two sides of the scale arm. I could not make a regular pattern on either side. The low weight range scale arm had 14 dots and two lines. The high weight scale arm had only two dots (that I could see for sure) and about 8 lines (again hard to see). In a flat part of the scale arm were several counter stamps. I assume the stamps were some approval of the scale’s calibration. They are hard to see in hand or in pictures, but I guess there are a dozen or more. The counter stamps are not all the same. One looks a bit like PacMan with a wide open mouth.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]825687[/ATTACH] </p><p>19th century scale, note the arm holes are centered and hangers are oval shaped</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]825688[/ATTACH] </p><p>you can see circular counter marks to confirm calibration (I think that is what they are)</p><p><br /></p><p>You can read a bit more in my blog - </p><p><a href="http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow">http://rrdenarius.blogspot.com/</a>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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