Daddy's Stuff

We lost Dad in 2007 (Has it been that long?), and recently during a move, Momma came across some stuff she thought I might like, so I went today to see about it.  Scouting memorabilia, mostly, with some odds and ends that we all collect when we live a full life.

One piece in particular caught my eye, and when Momma showed it to me, I wasn't sure what to make of it.  It looked old, last century old, and for the life of me I couldn't figure it out.

It's a scale of some sort, but a brief examination didn't tell anything about it.  I got it home to my bench and looked at it under the loup.  It's marked H.Boker & Co, Germany, and it's calibrated from 0-50.

But, I couldn't figure out why it had so many hooks.  Then I flipped it over.  Another calibration scale on the other side was calibrated from 0-400.  I'm assuming that the calibrations are in pounds.  It's riveted construction, and is marked Not Legal For Trade.

So, I went to the computer and started Googling around.  It's an H. Boker Buffalo Hide and Fur Scale, marketed during the late 1800s to trappers and hunters who wanted to market their hides.  The smaller hooks, obviously are for the smaller weights and the larger hooks for weighing bulk hides.  Ingenious little device, because the spring gets thicker through the bend, so that it can be used for both ranges.

Still, I wonder what the old man was doing with it?  Mysteries abound.

The Ebay asking price is $100.00, and AuctionZip tells me that one sold recently at auction for $50.00.  No matter, this one's not for sale.