Mitsche Le Mans - Balance or scale - oak - Antique scale, 1880

Antique Mitsche professional balance scale – Le Mans – Oak, iron and brass – France – Late 19th century
Important and rare French bench professional scale, made by the Mitsche Manufacture d'Instruments de Pesage of Le Mans, specialized in producing professional weighing instruments.
The specimen preserves on the vertical panel the beautiful original brass oval plaque bearing the inscription:
“MANUFACTURE D'INSTRUMENTS DE PESAGE – MITSCHE – AU MANS”
The manufacture is historically documented in Le Mans, in the Sarthe department (France). Specialist sources register Mitsche et Anfray among the makers of balanciers and balances-bascules active in Le Mans from 1873 up to at least 1914. The activity of the Mitsche & Anfray factory in Le Mans is also documented in 1891.
Due to construction characteristics, materials, woodworking of the wooden structure and the type of the complex weighing mechanism, the specimen is attributable to the end of the 19th century, approximately 1880–1900.
The balance is built with a robust solid oak frame, large weighing platform and a complex iron mechanism, with graduated bars and movable brass sliders/ counterweights. The mechanical system uses an articulated series of levers and pivots connected to the load platform.
Particularly interesting is the possibility to observe the complex mechanical structure also in the lower part, a testament to the high construction quality of French professional weighing instruments of the second half of the 19th century.
The balance is complete and perfectly functional.
It preserves a nice antique patina, with wear, oxidation, scratches and signs of use compatible with its age and with the original professional purpose of the object. These characteristics have been deliberately preserved and contribute to the historical character of the balance.
A particularly significant comparison is constituted by another Mitsche historical balance, of 100 kg capacity, on which a brass plaque bears the same inscription “Manufacture d'Instruments de Pesage – Mitsche – Au Mans”.
Manufacture: Mitsche / Mitsche et Anfray
Place of production: Le Mans, Sarthe, France
Proposed period: late 19th century, circa 1880–1900
Materials: solid oak, iron/steel and brass
Dimensions: 62 × 47 × H 30 cm
Weight: about 15 kg
Conditions: good general condition compatible with age; signs, scratches, oxidation and wear due to use
Operation.
Thus, the balance constitutes an interesting example of French commercial and metrological instrumentation from the industrial era, today appreciable both as a historical technical instrument and as an important decorative collectible piece.