Instrument Origin

Opening the small brass latch on this wooden box reveals organized rows of small glass beads that gently glint in the light. The gold lettering on each bead over the red velvet interior gives the display a sense of grandeur. This set of specific gravity beads were handmade by Isabell Lovi in Edinburgh, Scotland around 1809. Isabell Lovi was married to a Spanish immigrant named Angelo Lovi who was a glassblower in Edinburgh (Ewan 2007). When her husband died in 1804, Lovi took over her partner’s business of glassblowing and instrument making. She soon created an updated version of an instrument used to measure the densities of liquids that was first invented by fellow Scotsman Alexander Wilson in the mid-1750s. In 1805, Lovi filed a patent for this instrument as an “Apparatus for determining the specific gravities of fluid bodies” (Great Britain Patent Office, 1857). This set of beads is one of four known sets beads handcrafted and blown by Lovi.