THE ANTIQUE
Barometers
As a weather-obsessed nation, and despite modern high-tech forecasts, there’s still something reassuring about reading the), there are plenty of antique barometers in circulation. Early domestic barometers – commonly named ‘stick’, ‘wheel’, and ‘L-shaped’ barometers – relied on the rise and fall of mercury in a glass tube as it measured the air pressure and indicated atmospheric conditions. Round-shaped barometers were introduced with the invention of the aneroid barometer in France in 1844, which relied on the expansion of vacuum-pumped metal to trigger the movement of the indicator needle on the dial. In the lateVictorian and Edwardian eras, aneroid barometers were combined with clocks for use as desk furniture. Today, you can pick up both mercury and aneroid barometers for a song at auction – some under £100 – while rarities in good condition will cost considerably more.