Loading
early Vidie
brass, cardboard, cast iron, glass, steel, zinc
The case of this early aneroid barometer (circa 1858) is crafted in a classic circular form. The wood is solid oak, with a dense texture, a clearly visible annual grain pattern, and a deep honey-brown tone that has now acquired an elegant patina. The surface is finished with a thin oil varnish that softens the pores of the wood and emphasizes its structure.
Inside the oak frame sits an early type of dial, made of thin cardboard mounted on a metal base (a zinc plate). The surface of the cardboard dial is painted in an even matte white, with a barely visible paper-fiber texture — a telltale sign of hand-applied ground and early printing techniques.
The barometric scale is concentric and consists of two independent measurement systems: the French system (Paris inches of mercury) and the metric system (centimeters of mercury). Such a combination was extremely rare and was usually made specifically for markets transitioning to the metric system — in this case, Denmark in the 1850s.
The inner scale represents Paris inches (Pariser Zoll), divided into 24 lines per inch, as prescribed by the French system. These divisions are marked with fine black strokes, with longer hour-style marks at whole inches. The outer scale shows centimeters of mercury: the range of 71–80 cmHg corresponds precisely to the average atmospheric pressure of the North European coastline. The divisions are large and clear, intended for users accustomed to metric readings. This combination makes the instrument an important historical witness to the era of measurement standardization.
Along the outer circumference of the scale are classic weather terms in mid-19th-century archaic Danish — predating the orthographic reform. Sequence and translation of terms:
This is the standard set of Danish barometric indications of the mid-19th century; the spellings VEIR (modern vejr) and MEGEN (modern meget) highlight the historical archaic form and point directly to a dating of about 1855–1860.
The dial is protected by thick mineral glass with a faceted edge. The facet creates characteristic light refraction along the circumference, serving both decorative and protective functions. The glass is set into a heavy brass bezel polished to a soft, golden sheen.
At the center of the glass is a small knurled brass knob that rotates the auxiliary brass set-pointer marking previous pressure values. The pointer itself is elegant and elongated, with a decorative outline shaped like a stretched droplet and finished with a small ring at its base.
The main barometric hand is made of steel with heat bluing, giving it a deep dark-blue tone. Its form is refined, with a slender body and a decorative crescent-shaped tail.
At the heart of the instrument lies an early Vidie-type movement made in French workshops. A large copper aneroid capsule mounted on a cast-iron base acts on a steel lever supported by a strong external coil spring. The motion of the capsule’s upper membrane is transmitted through this lever to the main arbor extending beyond the support plate, and from the main arbor via a cord (rather than a fusee chain) to the pointer shaft.
In sum, this barometer is a remarkably early export example whose construction, materials, and dual-calibrated scale make it an outstanding witness to the formative decades of aneroid instrumentation.
