A new glow of the old pharmacy scale

As part of this year’s program of works on the restoration of museum material selected for the permanent exhibition, supported by the Croatian Ministry of Culture, the restoration of the object from the Collection of Pharmaceutical Equipment, Furniture and Utensils of the Croatian Museum of Medicine and Pharmacy was completed in October:

PHARMACY SCALE, Croatia or Austria, 1820 – 1830, from the Gaj pharmacy in Krapina, case: walnut root veneer, marquetry, drawing by firing; metal parts: brass, steel; interpolated small parts: bone, stone; 77 x 43 x 43 cm, inv. no. HMMF-110

The scale comes from the collection of the Institute of the History of Pharmacy, which the Museum took over from the Division of the History of Medical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2015. Due to the artistic design of the case in the style of classicism, this pharmacy scale is very attractive and even before the founding of the Museum it was presented with a photograph on the cover of the information and promotional leaflet of the Academy. In the permanent exhibition of the Museum, it will be exhibited within the thematic unit PHARMACY as an unavoidable part of the inventory of the old pharmacy interior.

Some parts of the case were damaged, the front lower slat was missing, and the metal parts were darkened and distorted in places; it was difficult to handle when opening the drawer. All damage has been repaired, missing wooden parts have been replaced with appropriate material, metal parts have been cleaned, polished, restored to their original appearance and the item is now in a condition suitable for long-term storage and display. Conservation and restoration works were performed by senior restorer Zoran Kirchhoffer, B.Sc. Mechanical Engineer, Craft Industrial Archeology, Kumrovec.

Picture: the appearance of the scale after restoration, photo by: Zoran Kirchhoffer