Object Description
A set of Victorian oak Jockey scales by Youngs, of typical form with an upholstered seat adjacent to a brass balance, with four weights of 8, 4, 2 and 1 stone, the frieze with a carved rosette and leaf band, raised on four barley twist legs, reupholstered in deep buttoned green leather, stamped ‘Youngs, London’. English, circa 1860.
Footnote: John Young & Son, Royal Warrant Holders to Queen Victoria, operated out of 5 Bear Street and 46 Cranbourn St, Leicester Square, London W.C., from 1812-1901. They are recorded by the Museo Galileo as ‘makers of balances’ and in their own trade adverts as ‘scale makers’. In the Post Office Directory for 1862, the firm is listed as ‘scale makers to Her Majesty’. A pair of jockey scales of identical model, also by Youngs, was sold from the Gladstone family collections at Fasque in Scotland and were presumably acquired by Sir William Gladstone himself