A mid-Victorian brass desk thermometer.

This decorative and most unusual desk thermometer is comprised of seven gilt brass and painted sections and is modelled on a classical obelisk or tower with numerous classical decorative motifs throughout.

The superb and original spiral thermometer has both Fahrenheit (20-120) and Reaumur (0-40) scales, an unusual addition to a thermometer, the Reaumur scale was used extensively on the continent and has its freezing point at zero and boiling point at eighty degrees.