How is an aneroid different from a mercury barometer?

The aneroid reads pressure through a sealed metal capsule that is partly emptied of air. As pressure changes the capsule flexes, and levers carry that movement to a pointer on the dial. No mercury tube means no long column to house, which is why these cases are round-dialled and comparatively compact.

What wood are most cases made from?

Oak is the default, named in 121 of 447 titles on Sellingantiques, with walnut in 60 and mahogany in 37. Other timbers surface only once or twice each: beech, ebony, rosewood, kingwood, fruitwood and birdseye maple.

What does Victorian mean in one of these titles?

Treat it as a broad era label rather than a date. Victorian appears in 197 titles and Edwardian in 44, and a number of pieces are filed only as 19th century or circa 1900. Where decades are actually given, the weight sits in the 1890s and 1900s, with the 1880s and 1910s close behind. The dated field as a whole runs 1800 to 1940.

A recording barometer. A clockwork drum turns a paper chart under an inked pen arm, so pressure is drawn as a continuous line over the week. Barographs account for 30 titles in the archive and a far higher share of what is currently listed. Five-glass mahogany cases with a chart drawer sit toward the upper end of the range.

Are pocket and ships' barometers common?

They're a minority alongside the wall dials. Brass-cased, pocket, ships' and surveying instruments together make up around a tenth of the archive. Brass appears in 25 titles, ships in 11 and pocket in 9, with surveying, mining, marine and altimeter pieces alongside them.

Which signatures turn up on the dials?

London is the commonest place name, in 64 titles. Negretti & Zambra is the maker recorded across more than one dealer's stock. Provincial retailers are spread widely, with Brecon, Hitchin, Darlington, Torquay, Swansea, Sleaford, Leeds, Wigan, Norwich, Newcastle, Exeter, Harrogate, Hull, Glasgow, Manchester, Dublin and Liverpool all appearing.

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Antique Aneroid Barometers

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A barometer worked by a sealed metal vacuum capsule instead of a mercury tube, usually set behind a round dial in a wooden wall case, made to read the weather in the hall, on deck or in the pocket.