Troy weight is a system of units of mass from an unknown origin. While the name Troi is believed to have come from Troyes in the north east of France the system used primarily in the precious metals industry and adopted in Australia originated in 15th century England. Troy weight units are the 'grain' and 'pennyweight' (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and the troy pound (12 troy ounces). One troy ounce equals 31.1034768 grams. The troy ounce and grain were also part of the apothecaries' system and was long used in medicine, but has now been largely replaced by the metric system (milligrams). When the Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862 local inspectors were established throughout the colony to ensure accuracy particularly in the weighing of gold. By the 1870's each local council had a set of standards that were used to test the scales, weights and measures of local merchants and businesses. This set would have been de commissioned some time after 1947 and was offered back to the Borough of Eaglehawk in 1989. Hinged, lockable wooden box with brass handle, hinges, latches and lock. Remnant wax on front face of box above and below lock. Interior of box is lined with purple velvet which is worn in several places. Box houses nine troy weights ranging in size from 100oz Troy to 2oz Troy. 1oz Troy is missing. Accompanying set is a two page letter from Weights and Measures Branch of Consumer Affairs offering set back to the Borough of Eaglehawk in 1989. Troy Weights: Part a) 100oz Weight, 68 mm Diameter at base x 113 mm H b) 50 oz Weight, 53 mm D x 90 mm H c) 30 oz Weight, 45 mm D x 77 mm H d) 20 oz Weight, 39 mm D x 65 mm H e) 16 oz Weight, 37 mm D x 60 mm H f) 8 oz Weight, 30 mm D x 47 mm H g) 4 oz Weight, 24mm D x 36 mm H h) 2 oz Weight, 19mm D x 28 mm H i) 1oz missing Hinged Wooden Box: Part j)171 mm H x 300mm W x 196 mm D Typed two page letter: Part k) 295 mm H x 210 mm W x 1 mm Top Troy: Each Troy weight stamped with small symbol made up of the number 5, an image of a crown and the word STANDARD. Side Troy : Each Troy weight stamped with small symbol made up of the number 5, an image of a crown and the word STANDARD above a series of date stamps recording every time the weight was tested. Date stamps: 30.4.1866; 16.9.81, 30 12.86; 1.2.92; 10.5.97; 15.1.04; 10.2.09; 17.12.14; 20.4.20; 29.9.25; 23.1.31; 18.6.36; 14.7.41: 11.7.47 Exterior Top of Box: Remnant of paper pasted to wood. Faint printed text 'ON HIS MAJESTY'S SERVICE'.borough of eaglehawk, making a nation exhibition, city of greater bendigo commerce

The nested cup weights were designed to make the transport of weights, essential items in most commercial transactions, more convenient. This idea goes back to Roman times. In the nested cup form, a series of weights shaped into cups are set one into the other. Each cup fits precisely into the next, larger sized cup which each larger example weighing exactly twice that of the one previous. The Troy weight system was used for precious metals and gemstones.7 x Brass troy measures of various sizes. Fine groove lines near top edge and bottom 2 x Copper sliding weights - domed.1) 32 oz Troy around top .2) 16 oz Troy around top .3) VIII R around top. Maker's mark - lidded pot (coffee/tea?) with date 1826 .4) 8 oz around top .5) 6 oz Troy around top .6) 4 oz Troy .7) 2 oz Troy "WATERS" on top of sliders with "4" on under sidenested cups weights, troy weight, precious metals, gemstones, commercial transactions, sliding weights, domed weights

Troy weight is a system of units of mass used for weighing precious metals and gemstones. The items here have no known provenance or donor.These items have no local significance and are useful for display onlyThese are six troy weights – 4 ounces, 2 ounces, I ounce, ½ ounce, ¼ ounce, ¼ ounce. They are brass and circular in shape and have ridged edges so that they fit one on top of the other. They are all slightly discoloured. The smallest ¼ ounce weight is different in shape and has a small brass knob on top.‘4 oz troy, 2 oz troy, 1 oz troy, ½ oz troy, ¼ oz troy, ¼ troy’ Old cataloguing number etched on all of the weights – ‘1499’ troy weights, warrnambool

A pair of scales or dishes in which objects to be weighed and the weights / masses against which to weigh them are placed is an "Apparatus for weighing. The pan, or each of the pans, of a balance." Its parts include a fulcrum, a beam that balances on it, two pans at the ends of the beam to hold the materials to be weighed, and counter-balancing weights. Gottingen made fine precision scientific scales for use by assayers, jewellers, chemists, gold buyers rtc. A 2 pan analytical, scientific or pharmaceutical beam balance scale made in Gottingen Germany c 1880. These scales are encased in a mahogany framed glass cabinet and Graded 0 -9 9-0D.R.PATENT / GOTTINGER PRAZISIONSWAGENFABRIK G.m.b.H. / GOTTINGEN On upright V over GPW scales, balance, precision measures, gold, pharmacy, precious metals, jewellery, gottingen germany, sartorious f, moorabin, bentleigh, cheltenham, early settlers, gold miners, pioneers, market gardeners, ballarat, bendigo, imperial measure, troy weight

Box of assorted weights.They range from 1/10 of a pound to 2 pounds. Made from differing metals.8 x weights of various size - 2lb (pound) to 1/10 of a poundWeight on each item "W & T AVERY LTD BIRM" on 8 oz 'GRAVE FOUNDRY Co" on 2 oztroy weight, imperial weight, grave foundry, w t avery ltd, birmingham

Troy weight is a system of units of mass that originated in 15th-century England.Assorted ounce brass apothecaries weights x 6 - 3 oz, 2 oz, 1 oz 1/2 oz. on red felt stand.weights, weighing instruments

Troy ounces are slightly heavier than avoirdupois ounces that we commonly use. 1 troy ounce equals roughly 1 1/8 ounces and is used for the weighing of precious metals and gems. It is believed that the troy ounce dates back to the 16th century to the town of Troyes in Frances. This was a major trading centre for Europe and a standardised for of weights was needed. One troy ounce equalled 480 grains of barley.Two Sets of Troy weights all circular and tapering to the bottom plus two individual weights - 1oz. One Complete set of Troy weights round in shape and tapering to bottom with six inner weights imprinted with 6oz, 4oz, 2oz, 1oz and nothing on two inner smaller ones.2nd set is incomplete with three inner crucibles next size is missing and then smallest size 6oz 4oz 2oz 1oz . Two individual weights 1oz.gold mining, gold mining crucibles, gold mining equipment, gold smelting

Incomplete set of standard Troy weights (Pennyweights), used in the valuation and measurement of precious metals. Set consists of 6,5,4,2,1 and 1//2 pennyweights (3 is missing), and 6,5,4, and 2 grains (1 and 3 are missing).pennyweights, weights and measures, troy weights

A pennyweight was a unit of mass that was equal in weight to 20 grains, one twentieth of an ounce and one 240th of a Troy pound. The abbreviation for a pennyweight is ‘dwt’ (denarius weight). These measures and weights were typically used for weighing gold and other precious metals. Group of eleven weights and measures including seven rectangular pennyweights with clipped corners and marked 10 DWTS, 6 DWTS, 5 DWTS, 4 DWTS, 3 DWTS, 2 DWTS respectively, two gram weights; 5 grams and 4 grams with top right pressed corner and two cup troy weights marked 4oz TROY and ½.284.1 10 DWTS 284.2 6 DWTS 284.3 5 DWTS 284.4 4 DWTS 284.5 3 DWTS 284.6 2 DWTS 284.7 1 DWTS 284.8 5 GRAMS 284.9 4 GRAMS 284.10 4 oz TROY 284.11 ½ city of greater bendigo commerce, making a nation exhibition, city of greater bendigo mining

Troy ounces are slightly heavier than avoirdupois ounces that we commonly use. 1 troy ounce equals roughly 1 1/8 ounces and is used for the weighing of precious metals and gems. It is believed that the troy ounce dates back to the 16th century to the town of Troyes in Frances. This was a major trading centre for Europe and a standardised for of weights was needed. One troy ounce equalled 480 grains of barley.Four circular Troy weights - three have raised outer edge/lip with weight details imprinted in the centre. Large weight has the number 2 embossed in the middle. Second has the number 1.0 in the middle third has the number 1/2 in the middle. Fourth weight is solid and has a smaller inner circle. All appear to be made out of brass All taper down to smaller base.gold mining, gold mining equipment, gold mining history

Wooden box lid with metal clasp and clasp hole with brown leather 'hinge ' glued to top - / paper label glued on inside surface with shield of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom words 'Duet Et Mon Droit' (The motto refers to the divine right of the Monarch to govern) the words Gold Scales and weights of all descriptions By R. Vandome Titford & Co 117 Leadenhall Street London Scale makers to Her Majesty Hon Boards of Customs & Inland Revenue her ? Hon East India Comp & The Bank of England Etc ? Table of Troy Weights ….THE STANDARD PRICE OF GOLD IS; £3.17.101/2d P.O.weighing, weights & measures

Founded in the early 18th century, the company was renamed W & T Avery in 1818. In 1979, GEC took over the company and renamed it GEC-Avery. In 2000, the US-American company Weigh-Tronix acquired the business and it is now known as Avery Weigh-Tronix. BELONGED TO JOHN PATIENCE OF CLUNES, FORMERLY IN HIS CHEMIST SHOP FOR DAILY USEWOODEN BOX WITH DRAWER AND THREADED HOLE IN LID TO ACCOMODATE THE CENTRAL POLE OF THE SCALE ASSEMBLY. BOX CONTAINS SCALES ASSSEMBLY AND WEIGHTS .1 WOODEN BOX .2 DRAWER TO FIT BOX .3 .4 PIECES OF WOOD FINISHED ON ONE SIDE WITH BLUE FELT - ORIGINALLY AFFIXED TO THE DRAWER TO CREATE A SMALL COMPARTMENT WITHIN THE DRAWER .5 WOODEN CYLINDER WITH LID CONTAINS A SET OF METAL PENNYWEIGHTS RANGING FROM ONE TO SIX, W & T A STAMPED ON THE REVERSE OF EACH WEIGHT, ONE SINGLE WEIGHT 2OZ AND ONE SINGLE WEIGHT 1/2 OZ STAMPED ON REVERSE, THREE OTHER LIKE WEIGHTS WITH NO STAMPING. FOUR SQUARE BRASS SCRUPLES WITH "6" STAMPED INTO EACH. .6 ONE SET OF SIX BRASS TROY WEIGHTS NESTED .7 METAL ASSEMBLY PIN FOR THE SCALES .8 SCALE ASSEMBLY OF UPRIGHT POLE, BALANCE BAR, TWO METAL DISHES WITH METAL CHAIN ATTACHED .9 TWO UNSTAMPED METAL CIRCULAR WEIGHTS .2 YELLOW LABEL AFFIXED TO THE BACK OF THE DRAWER: w & T AVERY, LATE T BEACHMANUFACTURERS OF ALL KINDS OF SCALES, SCALE BEAMS ,STEELYARDS ,PATENT WEIGHING, MACHINES, SCREW PLATES, DIE STOCKS, SCALE DIGBETH BIRMINGHAM .5 STAMPED ON REVERSE OF PENNYWEIGHTS: "STANDARD" WITH A CROWN IMAGE AND W & T A - FADING LABEL WITH F C DEIG PRINTED OTHER INFORMATION ILLEGIBLE .8 DISHES STAMPED WITH: ROYAL BY HIS MAJESTIES LETTERS PATENT weighing instrument, apothecary scales, gold scales

Apothecaries weights were historically used by physicians and pharmacists for the assembling of medical recipes (20 grains = 1 scruple; 3 scruples = 1 dram (drachm); 8 drams = 1 troy ounce). The coin weights were used up until about the 1940s. This coin is a stater, a 2 gram coin. The symbol for the dram was the number 3 and the letters ‘ij’ are equivalent to the Roman numerals 11 meaning two. The coin has the date March 16, 1847, the date of the registration of the coin.This coin has no known local provenance but a two-dram coin such as this would have been used by doctors and pharmacists in the Warrnambool district from the 1840s to the 1940s approximately. It will be useful for display.This brass circular weight with raised engraving has an annulus of very small dots close to the rim on the obverse and reverse sides. The edge is smooth with a small chip .It is named a StaterObverse REGISTERED MARCH 16 1847 a CROWN Reverse .TWO DRAMS 3 I j apothecaries, weight, warrnambool history

The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995. J & M Ewan History: J&M Ewan was a Melbourne firm that began by selling retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. They had substantial warehouses situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, the business was established by James M Ewan in 1852. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When Ewan died in 1868 his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name J & M Ewan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony that consisted of agriculture equipment, building materials, mining items as well as steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. They also supplied the Bronze measuring containers in the Flagstaff Hill collection and the probability is that these containers were obtained by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St London as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. The company also serviced the Mauritius islands and the pacific area with their steamship the Suva and a brig the Shannon, the company ceased trading in 1993. Robert Bate History: Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847) was born in Stourbridge, England, one of four sons of Overs Bate, a mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvet's, and other fine materials)and banker. Bate moved to London, and in 1813 was noticed for his scientific instrument making ability through the authority of the “Clockmakers Company”. Sometime in the year 1813 it was discovered that one Robert Brettell Bate, regarded as a foreigner in London had opened a premises in the Poultry selling area of London. He was a Mathematical Instrument maker selling sundials and other various instruments of the clock making. In 1824, Bate, in preparation for his work on standards and weights, leased larger premises at 20 and 21 Poultry, London, at a rental of four hundred pounds per annum. It was there that Bate produced quality metrological instruments, which afforded him the recognition as one of one of the finest and principal English metrological instrument-makers of the nineteenth century. English standards at this time were generally in a muddle, with local standards varying from shire to shire. On 17 June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed making a universal range of weights, measures, and lengths for the United Kingdom, and Bate was given the job of crafting many of the metrological artifacts. He was under instruction from the renown physicist Henry Kater F.R.S. (1777-1835) to make standards and to have them deposited in the principal cities throughout the United Kingdom and colonies. Bate experimented with tin-copper alloys to find the best combination for these items and by October 1824, he had provided Kater with prototypes to test troy and avoirdupois pounds, and samples with which to divide the troy into grams. Bate also cast the standard for the bushel, and by February 1825, had provided all the standards required of him by the Exchequer, Guildhalls of Edinburgh, and Dublin. In 1824, he also made a troy pound standard weight for the United States, which was certified for its accuracy by Kater and deposited with the US Mint in 1827. Kater, in his address to the Royal Society of London, acknowledged Bate's outstanding experimentation and craftsmanship in producing standards of weights, measures, and lengths. An example of a dry Bronze measuring container made specifically for J & M Ewan by possibly the most important makers of measurement artefacts that gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J & M Ewan and used in Victoria by the authorities who were given legal responsibility to ensure that wholesalers and retailers of dry goods sold in Victoria were correct. The container was a legal standard measure so was also used to test merchants containers to ensure that their distribution of dry goods to a customer was correct.Maker Possibly Robert Brettell Blake or De Grave, Short & Co Ltd both of LondonContainer bronze round shape for measuring dry quantities has brass handles & is a 'half-bushel' measurement"IMPERIAL STANDARD HALF BUSHEL" engraved around the top of the container. VICTORIA engraved under "J & M Ewan & Co London and Melbourne" engraved around the bottom of the container.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, standard measure, bronze, peck measurement, j & m ewan, victorian standard dry measurement, bronze container, victorian standards, melbourne observatory, robert brettell bate

The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995. J & M Ewan History: J&M Ewan was a Melbourne firm that began by selling retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. They had substantial warehouses situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, the business was established by James M Ewan in 1852. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When Ewan died in 1868 his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name J & M Ewan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony that consisted of agriculture equipment, building materials, mining items as well as steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. They also supplied the Bronze measuring containers in the Flagstaff Hill collection and the probability is that these containers were obtained by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St London as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. The company also serviced the Mauritius islands and the pacific area with their steamship the Suva and a brig the Shannon. Robert Bate History: Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847) was born in Stourbridge, England, one of four sons of Overs Bate, a mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvet's, and other fine materials)and banker. Bate moved to London, and in 1813 was noticed for his scientific instrument making ability through the authority of the “Clockmakers Company”. Sometime in the year 1813 it was discovered that one Robert Brettell Bate, regarded as a foreigner in London had opened a premises in the Poultry selling area of London. He was a Mathematical Instrument maker selling sundials and other various instruments of the clock making. In 1824, Bate, in preparation for his work on standards and weights, leased larger premises at 20 and 21 Poultry, London, at a rental of four hundred pounds per annum. It was there that Bate produced quality metrological instruments, which afforded him the recognition as one of one of the finest and principal English metrological instrument-makers of the nineteenth century. English standards at this time were generally in a muddle, with local standards varying from shire to shire. On 17 June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed making a universal range of weights, measures, and lengths for the United Kingdom, and Bate was given the job of crafting many of the metrological artifacts. He was under instruction from the renown physicist Henry Kater F.R.S. (1777-1835) to make standards and to have them deposited in the principal cities throughout the United Kingdom and colonies. Bate experimented with tin-copper alloys to find the best combination for these items and by October 1824, he had provided Kater with prototypes to test troy and avoirdupois pounds, and samples with which to divide the troy into grams. Bate also cast the standard for the bushel, and by February 1825, had provided all the standards required of him by the Exchequer, Guildhalls of Edinburgh, and Dublin. In 1824, he also made a troy pound standard weight for the United States, which was certified for its accuracy by Kater and deposited with the US Mint in 1827. Kater, in his address to the Royal Society of London, acknowledged Bate's outstanding experimentation and craftsmanship in producing standards of weights, measures, and lengths. An example of a dry Bronze measuring container made specifically for J & M Ewan by possibly the most important makers of measurement artifacts that gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J & M Ewan and used in Victoria by the authorities who were given legal responsibility to ensure that wholesalers and retailers of dry goods sold in Victoria were correct. The container was a legal standard measure so was also used to test merchants containers to ensure that their distribution of dry goods to a customer was correct. Bronze round container with brass two handles used as a legal standard for measuring dry quantities & is a 'peck' measurement. "IMPERIAL STANDARD PECK" engraved around top of container with " VICTORIA" engraved under.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, standard measure, bronze, peck measurement, j & m ewan, victorian standard dry measurement, bronze container, victorian standards, melbourne observatory, robert bettell bate

The beginning of standardised weights and measures began In Victoria when the Melbourne Observatory received sets of standard weights and measures, which had been tested in Britain against the then British Imperial standards. These included the primary standard yard and pound for the Colony of Victoria. Other standards of weights and measure held by shires and the administrative body's within the colony could then be compared to these primary standards. A Weights and Measures Act was passed in Victoria in 1862, establishing local inspectors throughout the colony. By the 1870s each local council and shire in Victoria held a set of standards that were used to test scales, weights and dry measures used by wholesalers, factories and shops. Every ten years the councils’ standards would themselves need to be rechecked against the Victorian Standards. The checking was done by the Victorian Customs Department in the 19th century, but with the transfer of responsibility for customs to the Federal Government in 1901, weights and measures function was retained by the Victorian Government and was shifted to the Melbourne Observatory. In 1904, a new building was erected at the south end of the Great Melbourne Telescope House, where the standard weights and measures and testing equipment was installed. This room had a large whirling apparatus for testing air meters and became known as the Whirling Room. When the Melbourne Observatory closed in 1944, the Weights and Measures Branch was formed to continue and this branch remained at the Observatory site unit until 1995. J & M Ewan History: J&M Ewan was a Melbourne firm that began by selling retail furniture and wholesale ironmongery. They had substantial warehouses situated at the intersection of 81-83 Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets, the business was established by James M Ewan in 1852. Shortly afterwards he went into partnership with William Kerr Thomson and Samuel Renwick. When Ewan died in 1868 his partners carried on and expanded the business under his name J & M Ewan. The business was expanded to provide a retail shop, counting-house and private offices. Wholesale warehouses adjoined these premises at 4, 6 and 10 Little Collins Street, West. This company provided and sold a large and varied amount of imported goods into the colony that consisted of agriculture equipment, building materials, mining items as well as steam engines, tools of all types and marble fireplaces. They also supplied the Bronze measuring containers in the Flagstaff Hill collection and the probability is that these containers were obtained by the local Melbourne authority that monitored weights and measures in the mid to late 19th century. The company grew to employ over 150 people in Melbourne and opened offices at 27 Lombard St London as well as in New Zealand and Fiji. The company also serviced the Mauritius islands and the pacific area with their steamship the Suva and a brig the Shannon. Robert Bate History: Robert Brettell Bate (1782-1847) was born in Stourbridge, England, one of four sons of Overs Bate, a mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, especially silks, velvet's, and other fine materials)and banker. Bate moved to London, and in 1813 was noticed for his scientific instrument making ability through the authority of the “Clockmakers Company”. Sometime in the year 1813 it was discovered that one Robert Brettell Bate, regarded as a foreigner in London had opened a premises in the Poultry selling area of London. He was a Mathematical Instrument maker selling sundials and other various instruments of the clock making. In 1824, Bate, in preparation for his work on standards and weights, leased larger premises at 20 and 21 Poultry, London, at a rental of four hundred pounds per annum. It was there that Bate produced quality metrological instruments, which afforded him the recognition as one of one of the finest and principal English metrological instrument-makers of the nineteenth century. English standards at this time were generally in a muddle, with local standards varying from shire to shire. On 17 June 1824, an Act of Parliament was passed making a universal range of weights, measures, and lengths for the United Kingdom, and Bate was given the job of crafting many of the metrological artifacts. He was under instruction from the renown physicist Henry Kater F.R.S. (1777-1835) to make standards and to have them deposited in the principal cities throughout the United Kingdom and colonies. Bate experimented with tin-copper alloys to find the best combination for these items and by October 1824, he had provided Kater with prototypes to test troy and avoirdupois pounds, and samples with which to divide the troy into grams. Bate also cast the standard for the bushel, and by February 1825, had provided all the standards required of him by the Exchequer, Guildhalls of Edinburgh, and Dublin. In 1824, he also made a troy pound standard weight for the United States, which was certified for its accuracy by Kater and deposited with the US Mint in 1827. Kater, in his address to the Royal Society of London, acknowledged Bate's outstanding experimentation and craftsmanship in producing standards of weights, measures, and lengths. An example of a dry Bronze measuring container made specifically for J & M Ewan by possibly the most important makers of measurement artefacts that gives us today a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures were used and how a standard of measurement for merchants was developed in the Australian colonies based on the Imperial British measurement system. The container has social significance as an item retailed by J & M Ewan and used in Victoria by the authorities who were given legal responsibility to ensure that wholesalers and retailers of dry goods sold in Victoria were correct. The container was a legal standard measure so was also used to test merchants containers to ensure that their distribution of dry goods to a customer was correct.Maker Possibly Robert Brettell Blake or De Grave, Short & Co Ltd both of LondonContainer brass round for measuring quantities- Has brass handles & is a 'Bushel' measurement. 'Imperial Standard Bushel Victoria' engraved around container. Container bronze round shape for measuring dry quantities has brass handles & is a 'Bushel' measurement"IMPERIAL STANDARD BUSHEL" engraved around the top of the container. VICTORIA engraved under "J & M Ewan & Co London and Melbourne" engraved around the bottom of the container.flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, maritime-museum, shipwreck-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, standard measure, bushel, bushel measurement, j & m ewan, dry measurement, victorian measurement standard, bronze container, melbourne observatory, robert brettell bate

No information is available on the history of these six examples of pennyweights. A pennyweight was a unit of mass that was equal in weight to 20 grains, one twentieth of an ounce and one 240th of a Troy pound. The abbreviation for a pennyweight is ‘dwt’ (denarius weight). Pennyweights were and are used in the weighing of precious metals and are still used by dentists in the measurement of the metal used in dental crowns etc. These items are of antiquarian interest and will be useful for displays. These are six pennyweights of varying weights – 5 pennyweights, 4, 3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6. They appear to be made of brass and the 5, 4 and 3 pennyweights are rounded off rectangles in shape with eight sides. The three smaller weights are rectangular in shape with nipped-off edges. ‘5 dwts’, ‘4 dwts’, ‘3 dwts’ In black labelling, ‘1499.10, 1499.11, 1499.12’ (old cataloguing numbers) pennyweights, warrnambool, denarius weight

This 'Dayton Scale' was used in a grocery shop in Moorabbin Shire in 20thC to measure grain, sugar, fruit, vegetables, lollies, etc as required by the shopkeeper for the purchase by customers. The Dayton Scale Company, originally known as the Computing Scale Company, built and marketed the first computing scale in 1891. It was part of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company formed in 1911, and became an IBM division in 1933. The Dayton Scale Division was eventually sold to the Hobart Manufacturing Company when IBM decided to stop marketing scales to retail stores. The Computing Scale Company of Dayton was operated from 1891-1914 by two businessmen from Dayton, Ohio who purchased patents on the recently invented computing scale. It was merged with other companies to become the forerunner company for IBM. On July 20 1897 Mr CC Hobart & Herbert L. Johnson formed the Hobart Electrical Manufacturing Company in Troy, Ohio USA. 1915 Hobart continues its growth into the World market, opening a sales office in Australia. Dayton grocery scales, capacity 2 pounds, Imperial Measure. It is made from white painted steel with a large metal scoop that sits on 2 steel rods attached to a balance beam connected to a recording mechanism that displays the ‘weight’ in a glass framed gauge. In window of glass framed gauge ; DAYTON SCALE CO. / OHIO USA ; Computed from 0 – 2LB in 1oz sections weights, measures, shops, scales. balances, grocery stores, early settlers, moorabbin, bentleigh, cheltenham, dayton scales company, ibm pty ltd., hobarrt electrical manufacturing company, hobart c.c., johnson herbert l, computing scale company ohio

The peck has been in use since the early 14th century when it was introduced as a measure for flour. The term referred to varying quantities until the modern units of measurement were defined in the 19th century. Cities in England used to have official standard weights and measures for that city or area. These containers were marked with the city's name and emblem, merchant’s weights and measures would then be checked against this to make sure they weren't trying to cheat their customers. The item in the collection is a standard measure approved by Bristol City and used by that City’s grocers to measure dry goods such as peas, beans, sugar, flour, meal etc., and its metal banding ensures that the measure cannot be reduced in size to cheat customers. Additional Information: The British Imperial System evolved from the thousands of Roman, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and customary local units employed in the middle Ages. Traditional names such as pound, foot, and gallon were widely used, but the values so designated varied with time, place, trade, product specifications, and dozens of other requirements. Early royal standards were established to enforce uniformity took the name Winchester, after the ancient tenth century capital of Britain. King Henry VII reaffirmed the customary Winchester standards for capacity and length and distributed royal standards throughout the realm. This process was repeated about a century later in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. In the 16th century, the rod (5.5 yards, or 16.5 feet) was defined (once again as a learning device and not as a standard) defined by the length of the left feet of 16 men lined up heel to toe as they emerged from the church. By the 17th century usage and legal statute had established the acre, rod, and furlong at their present values together with other historic units such as the peck. Establishment of the System: The Weights and Measures Act of 1824 and the Act of 1878 established the British Imperial System based on precise definitions of selected existing units. The 1824 act sanctioned a single imperial gallon to replace the wine, ale, and corn (wheat) gallons that were in general use. The new gallon was defined as equal in volume to 10 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water weighed at 62°F with the barometer at 30 inches, or 277.274 cubic inches (later corrected to 277.421 cubic inches). The two new basic standard units were the imperial standard yard and the troy pound, which was later restricted to weighing drugs, precious metals, and jewels. In 1963 an act of parliament abolished archaic measures as the rod and chaldron and a metric system was adopted. An early example of a dry measuring container giving a snapshot of how imperial weights and measures developed in England to evolve the British measurement system into the metric arrangement that most countries have adopted today including Australia. It has social significance as an item that was in everyday use by grocers and other merchants to measure dry goods in the late 18th to early 19th centuries and used specifically in the Bristol region of England as an officially recognised measurement.Wooden measurement container with iron banding and hand made rivets container is a Quarter Peck official measurement container. Inscriptions are impressed into the sides of the wooden body. The container has the official crown and emblem of the City of Bristol, indicating this item was the Bristol City standard quarter peck measurement.Impressed into the timber on the front, a crown emblem over "C B G / CITY OF BRISTOL / QUARTER", on one side "HALF" , another side "PECK". Handwritten in white chalk on the base is "1458"flagstaff hill, warrnambool, shipwrecked-coast, flagstaff-hill-maritime-museum, flagstaff-hill-maritime-village, weights and measures, quarter peck, measurement container, dry grocery measure, bristol city measurement standard, city of bristol, british weights and measures, 18th and 19th centure standard measures