Description

PRECISION CALIPERS FROM STUTTGART, German, early 19th century, signed “Baumann, Stuttgart.” Made of brass with steel tips, these sliding calipers open from 8-1/2″ to 15-1/2″ (22 – 39 cm), with clampscrew and fine adjustment screw. Setting is made with fine steel points or flat parallel jaws. The sides are engraved with scales of Rheinland measure and French measure, including both “Pied du Roi” and “metre.” There are four verniers with readouts to tenths of a division (e.g., tenths of a millimeter). The scales are finely divided and beautifully engraved (e.g., “Fufs = 1 dec Ruthe”). Condition is fine, the instrument of particularly high quality. Baumann was a maker of precision surveying instruments. The Websters reckon him c. 1760 – 1830, and record a circumferentor and a repeating circle by him. Another of his instruments, a fine brass theodolite, has recently appeared on the market.