Red Antique Howe Candy Scale for the Kitchen

I swear that every time I say that I am not going to buy anything else until I sell my stash of furniture and antiques that I know that I will not use.....I see something that I need to have and that something recently was an antique red balance beam candy scale.  Yes, red.  If it had been green, or cream, I probably could have fought the urge.  Had it not had the brass bowl.....I probably could have passed on it.  If it didn't have the weights.....I might have been able to look the other way.  But, damn it.  It had it all.  And it even had the vintage weight certification tag still intact.  But most importantly, it was red. Not a tomato red, which isn't bad, but it was a blue red......apple red.

 These two photos are of the actual scale taken from the seller's listing.

R has been testing out products on the brass and tonight he found something at Kroger, that really worked well. Plus, it was in the bargain bin!

I can't believe I chipped my nail polish.  I wish someone would come up with DIY proof nail polish.

 I will start looking for the perfect red spray paint tomorrow at Ace Hardware.  Rust-oleum has about 5 reds that are close.  I'll take the scale into the store so I can match it.

The scale also has a little white design on the base.  You can see a little bit of it on the base of my scale.  It is hard to see but it looks like little single white leaves and they look hand painted.  I found several other styles of Howe scales with white designs.

I did find a photo of the same style of scale and the flat side where you place the weights has a gold ring design on it. 

This should be a fun project but I want to wait until it is summer so the paint can cure real well in the sun before I try to add any of the details.

 I know some people think that you should leave the patina BUT this is red paint with lead and with a lot of corrosion.  This is for my kitchen and I don't want that by my food.  If the scale was in the condition of the scale in the above photo, I might consider it but it isn't.  I want to use the scale occasionally and maybe place fresh fruit in the brass scoop/bowl. 

 So until this summer, I will box everything up after I find the right color of red and wait until it decides to warm up.  

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