12,650 CHF
Courvoisier & Compagnie, No. 8278, circa 1830. Very fine and rare early bimetallic pocket thermometer. Three-body, "Empire", engine-turned. White enamel with graduations in Fahrenheit and Réaumur scales with indications for "Degrés du froid a Paris" and "degrés du chaud" and recorded temperatures in Syria and Senegal. Gilt brass with bimetallic curb, rack-and-pinion transmission with coiled return spring, micrometrically adjustable lever mounted at the end of the rack acted upon by the curb.Signed on the dial.Diam. 60 mm. Notes An interesting thermometer with unusual Paris temperature indications. Courvoisier & Co., established in 1811, sprang from the Robert & Courvoisier Co. Louis Courvoisier's second wife was Julie Houriet, a niece of Jacques Frédéric Houriet, who was also the inventor of the bimetallic thermometer. The relationship between Courvoisier and Houriet was not restricted only to family ties, as the present thermometer demonstrates. It is based on the Houriet design with slight differences in the micrometric adjustment mechanism and of course, the dial, which features unusual indications that appear to be years of recorded temperatures.
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2003-11-16
