Collections Database

[AC] Mead Art Museum at Amherst College; [HC] Hampshire College Art Gallery;
[HD] Historic Deerfield; [MH] Mount Holyoke College Art Museum; [MH SK] The Joseph Allen Skinner Museum at Mount Holyoke College; [SC] Smith College Museum of Art; [UM] University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMASS Amherst

Description:
Rectangular wooden box with iron cotter pin hinges, brass hook and loop closure, some staining on the outside of the box, the interiors of the box lid has a pasted paper label with a conversion chart for grains to shillings and pence sterling, for example the ink inscription reads: "1 Grain is 2d Sterling/ 2 grains 4 d" and so on. Also inside the box are a set of weights and scales, probably English, possibly American, c. 1750-1800. There are 12 brass weights in the shape of coins of various monetary amounts (two of the 12 weights are brass squares) inside and all are stamped - with a conjoined “IB” for the maker of the weights; there is also a corroded brass button. IB has not been identified yet.

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2021.16.11

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.