Which metal is most common?

Copper, which appears in more titles than any other metal listed on Sellingantiques. Pewter follows, then bronze, with brass some way behind. Copper is the metal of the handled measure and the measuring jug, often in graduated sets. Bronze belongs almost entirely to official standards.

What capacities do these measures come in?

The named capacities run from half gill and gill through noggin, half-pint, pint and quart to gallon and multi-gallon sizes. Dry measures go further: peck at two gallons, half-bushel, and full bushel at eight gallons. The largest to appear are bronze bushels and five-gallon copper harvest measures.

Why do bronze measures carry a place name?

The Imperial system adopted in Britain in 1824-26 required counties and boroughs to keep sets of cast standard measures for checking traders' vessels against. That's why the wording reads "County of Wilts", "County of Somerset", "Borough of Accrington". Several of the sampled ones are struck with years in the 1830s, and others run into the 1880s.

Are sets more usual than single measures?

Sets are as common as singles in this category. Sampled titles read "set of three", "set of five", "set of 7 graduated", "set of 8", and one copper spirit set ran to fourteen pieces. The larger graduated runs in copper or bronze sit in the upper half of the range.

How reliable are the dates given in listings?

Only 55 of the 184 listings carry a clean year, and those run from 1800 to 1950. The rest sit under broad labels, with "19th Century" alone accounting for 70 and Victorian for 30. So a Georgian or 19th-century attribution is usually the dealer's period label rather than a year read off the metal. Bronze standards are the exception, with legible years such as 1834, 1844, 1861 and 1887.

Do non-British measures turn up?

They do, as a small persistent minority. Scottish pewter appears in nine titles, including a crested tappit hen of Scots pint capacity. Channel Islands work surfaces as Jersey cans and noggins and a Guernsey milk can. A French ferrat grain measure, a Canadian toleware quart and a set of nine copper and brass seer measures each appear once.