Scales

John Edwards appears in the New York directory of 1802, listed as a scale-beam maker and smith working near the first Manhattan well. In the 1816–17 directory, he is listed as a patent scale-beam maker, working together with his son John Jr. One or both of the Edwards continued to be listed in the New York directory until 1834. The incised decorative banding on the scale would originally have been bright and shiny in contrast with the plain wrought iron surfaces. This decorative treatment was the work of the whitesmith in the early nineteenth century, and the reference to Edwards as being a smith in the 1802 directory may indicate his role as the decorator of his scale-beam as well.