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English aneroid barometer – late 19th century
Small travelling aneroid barometer, made in England between the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The solid brass case, worn by time and by use, preserves an authentic patina—dark, irregular, the kind that appears only when an object has truly lived, not simply been stored away.
The calibrated paper dial, with its Victorian graphics “Stormy / Rain / Change / Fair / Very Dry,” evokes a time when modern weather forecasts did not yet exist. No bulletins, no predictions: the only way to read the sky was direct observation. Instruments like this were therefore essential companions—used by sea captains who studied the wind before setting sail, by geographers mapping climates, by farmers who knew that a shift in pressure could decide the fate of a harvest.
The engraved wind rose at the centre recalls those worktables: wooden desks covered with nautical charts, sextants, sharpened pencils and notebooks filled with notes on the behaviour of winds. A world of quiet observers, when science was still written by hand, not on screens.
Inside, the aneroid capsule—an extremely thin metal “lung” partially emptied of air—reacts to changes in atmospheric pressure and moves the needle through a precise system of levers. It is simple, ingenious mechanics, completely free of liquids or organic materials: no “hair systems,” just metal, air, and an impeccable logic.
The small ring at the top reveals its nomadic nature: this wasn’t a bourgeois wall piece, but a working tool meant to be carried along, checked quickly, kept in sight while travelling or working.
Today it fits beautifully into a contemporary interior as a technical, honest accent, its worn brass breaking the perfection of the modern. Or it can live among maps, books, and period instruments, where it seems to breathe the same air as the geographers and sailors who first gave shape to our understanding of the world.
A sincere, characterful instrument—still able to tell a small story of science, adventure, and the quiet art of watching the sky.
- Material: Brass
- Size: cm 15x6
- Condition: Restored
- Style: Victorian
- State: Optimal conditions
