C.O.C.A. Times

Deluxe Watling-Caille Combination Scale
by Jim and Merlyn Collings
Photo #1
This unusual 1902-03 com-
bination scale was found
five years ago by Kent
Anderson (photo #1). He
noticed the scale in the back
of a pick-up truck on his
way to a farm auction in
Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Kent found out from the
driver that the auction would
be held a week later. Being a
devoted collector he waited
around and finally secured
the scale at the auction. The
scale was sold later at the
Chicagoland Show and was
brought to Massachusettes
by its new owner Elliot
Baratz (a prominent collec-
tor and friend). About two
years ago Elliot showed us
the pictures of the scale and
we fell in love with it. Elliot
was kind enough to relin-
quish his rights to it and it
now resides in the moun-
tains of western North
Carolina with us.
This scale has a unique personality being the first
cast iron Watling scale. The marquee, mechanism,
head and footplate originated with
the Watling Scale Co. The ornate
column was actually manufactured
and borrowed from the Caille Bros.
The U was embossed over the CB
on all four sides of the column
(photo #2) inside the panels of the
column the CB initials are still evi-
dent. This cast iron version has a
very similar mechanism to the early
Watling 1902 wood cabinet model.
Photo #2
John and Tom Watling were social
friends with the Caille Bros. family and often went
fishing in the Fox Lake Region of Illinois. Burns
Watling, Tom's son told Bill Berning (a real scale
aficionado) that the Caille family provided the out-
board motors for their fishing trips. While in the
area they helped fix slot machines in the local tav-
ems. It seems obvious that the
Watling Co. wanted to enhance
their cast iron scale with the
ornateness that made the ·Caille
Bros. so famous. The Caille
Bros. Teller Scale of 1903 (photo
#3) shows the ornate similarity
of the two scales.
As far as we know, there are only
two
deluxe
watling-Caille
Combination Scales that have
been found and identified. Bill
Berning has the other one
known, as pictured on page 93 of
his book - Scales-A-Collectors
Guide. He captions it the "extra
fancy weighing scale style nine"
taken from an old Watling
brochure. In 1986 Bill got a lead
on his scale while reviewing
some old Watling paperwork
from the 1960's. A gentleman
wrote a note to the Watling Co.
saying "he needed a key for . an
old scale." The company replied
that "the scale was too old and
Photo #3
they did not have the key. " After
reviewing the old correspon-
dence Bill called the man who had requested the
key years earlier. Much to Bill's delight the scale
was still stored in a garage in Chicago where it had
been for many years! When Bill discovered his
Watling-Caille Combination Scale it had all of its'
original white and gold paint.
Our scale also has all of its' original
paint. The column has a dark green
background with the ornate design
in silver. the corners of the column
on all four sides are painted red
with gold pin-striping (photo #4).
The octagonal head is painted
green and red with silver highlight-
ing. The letters and numbers on the
Photo #4
face of the glass are etched in gold
(photo #5) the mechanism is brass as well as the
footplate, which is inscribed Watling/Chicago
(photo #6). Apparently, these early scales were
painted with different color combinations.
continued ....