Antique French Brass Weights Set in Wooden Block

A set of antique French brass weights, long at home at Chanteduc, Patricia and Walter Wells's farmhouse and cooking school in Vaison-la-Romaine. Cast in graduated sizes, each weight is bell-shaped with a turned knob handle — the kind of precision tools that once sat on the counter of a charcutier or épicier, ensuring an honest measure at market. They are housed in a fitted wooden block, a dark, well-worn timber case with individual recessed sockets that hold each weight snugly in place, with several smaller weights sitting loose alongside. The brass has deepened over time to a rich, burnished gold-brown, and the wooden case carries the honest patina of age and use. At Chanteduc, the set has lived a rather more relaxed life. Patricia explains with a laugh, "I actually used the bigger ones as a doorstop!" A set like this works beautifully displayed on a kitchen shelf, a butcher's block or a study desk — grouped together or arranged by size along a windowsill. Note: some of the smaller weights are missing.