What is the most common type of oak barometer?

A small-to-medium wall-hung aneroid in a polished or carved oak case, in the banjo or circular outline. Banjo forms alone account for about a quarter of titles. The word 'small' appears in a fair number of listings, and those pieces sit at the lower end of the range.

How old are oak barometers usually?

The dates dealers enter run from 1850 to 1930. The 1890s and the 1880s are the two biggest decades, so roughly two in five dated pieces fall in the last twenty years of the 19th century. The 1900s, 1910s, 1920s and 1930s carry an Edwardian and inter-war tail. Loose labels such as 'Victorian', 'Edwardian' and '19th Century' are common in titles.

Are ship's barometers a separate category?

They sit within it. Round-cased marine and bulkhead aneroids, often with a carved rope-twist edge, are a recognised group and make up somewhere between a tenth and a sixth of listings. Titles such as 'Polished Oak Ship's Barometer' and 'Rope Edge Ships Barometer' recur often enough to be a standard description.

What is a barograph and why does it cost more?

A barograph is a clockwork drum that traces pressure in ink on a paper chart, set in a glazed oak case. Chart drawers, bevelled glass and five-glass cases are the features that turn up in descriptions. They sit at the upper end of the range alongside mercury stick barometers. Though a small share of everything sold, they account for about a fifth of live stock at any moment.

Does a maker's name on the dial matter?

Sampled titles carrying an instrument maker or retailer's name sit higher in the range than an unattributed 'Victorian Oak Barometer'. Many dials carry provincial names instead, from Hull, Aberdeen, Whitby, Sunderland, Carlisle and elsewhere, reflecting how widely opticians and instrument sellers put their own names on stock.

Which oak barometers turn up least often?

Admiral Fitzroy storm barometers are a small slice of the category, and skeletonised movements, where the case is cut away to show the works, appear in only a handful of titles. Odd one-offs surface too: a barometer hatstand, a lucky-horseshoe barometer, a hypsometer aneroid, and advertising pieces made for shop display.

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Antique Oak Barometers

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Oak-cased weather instruments for the hall or the ship's bulkhead, from small wall-hung aneroid dials to mercury sticks, Admiral Fitzroy storm barometers and clockwork barographs.