Letter Scales

Listen to audio.

Harry and Doris Green were members of the RPSL for over 50 years, Harry collected the postal history of Belgium and Doris, the Saar (Germany). However, this letter scale from Harry's collection of 80 scales shows they had a wider interest for everything related to the Postal Service, its historical relevance and how it developed. When Doris passed away in 1999, their daughter Rosemary joined the Society and did a lot of work especially for the Museum and Archive. On Rosemary's death in 2012 she left her parents' collection of weighing scales and Tunbridge Ware stamp boxes to the Society and these collections now form the 'Rosemary Green' collection. The letter scales date from between the 10th January 1840 when the rate of one penny for letters up to ½ ounce was introduced and before the 5th October 1871 when the weight that could be sent for one penny was increased to 1 ounce.