A good quality French aneroid barometer set in a most unusual faceted glass and ormolu mantle or table stand c1860

Aneroid barometer having 2½” printed enamel dial, the outer part marked with standard meteorological terms and “Aneroid Barometer” in French script to lower part, the inner barometric scale calibrated in inches of mercury with a range from 25” – 31” divided down to 1/50”, blued steel pointer, gilt brass index.

Conventional early Vidie pattern movement principally constructed from cast iron, driven from a single 1½” soldered capsule tensioned on a coil spring, all contained within a nickel plated brass drum form case. The whole presented in a faceted glass and ormolu table stand with cast trumpet form columns surmounted by acorns, further embellished with floral scrolls.

Condition: The subject of a full service, conservation, and calibration under laboratory conditions, see performance chart from dynamic test. The barometer working well across the indicated range though, as is so often the case with instruments of this age, accuracy drifts at the extreme lower pressures.

The dial appears crisp and clean, damage free. The crystal with some abrasions to the periphery. The ormolu retaining traces of original gilt finish. The faceted glass stand with minor flaw at side and extreme rear, otherwise generally in excellent clean condition.

Comments: This is only the second instrument we have seen presented in a glass stand – they are very uncommon, and it is unclear if this reflects a very low production in the first place or that many have been subsequently lost to damage.

French-made for the British market, with the glass stand possibly by Baccarat, this is an aesthetically most attractive piece with the added advantage of practical function.