Many people have personal collections, but Christopher Steele’s passion ranks highly in both eccentricity and extremity.

Steele has collected penny-scales since 1971. The penny-scale was a vending service that was most popular during the first half of the 20th century. A person would insert a penny and the scale would give their weight. Steele said that as personal bathroom scales were pricey, penny-scales were an important tool for monitoring one’s health. He said that the average citizen would weigh themselves 70 times a year during the machine’s heyday. A report issued in 1937 by the Department of Commerce stated that 10 billion pennies were used a year on scales, a total equivalent to $1.5 billion today.

Vendors would sometimes own hundreds of scales in several states as a profession.

Steele’s collection comprises the “The American Weigh” exhibit at the OSU Urban Arts Space downtown, open through March 7.
Steele was driven to collect the devices after a peculiar experience.

Steele was standing on a penny-scale at the old Columbus train
station in 1971 when he heard a voice say “Buy all you can.” Steele had soon acquired the six models located at the train station and did not stop to replenish his funds.

“I sold off my other collections,” said Steele, who says he’s been a collector all his life. “I very rapidly drained my bank account completely.”

Steele continued to collect while working as an artist. The first exhibition of his collection was in 1986 at the Columbus Museum of Art. The title “The American Weigh” was first used at the Taft Museum in Cincinnati. The collection has also been shown at the Smithsonian.

Steele couldn’t choose a favorite from the scales on display at the exhibit but he pointed out several that stood out.

A golf-themed 1928 model doubled as a game of chance. The penny would slide into a holder where users would swing at with a lever attached to a knob on the device. If they could hit the penny past several obstacles, the penny would be ejected at the bottom of the machine and they would get their weight for free. Otherwise, the penny would drop into the machine before a weight was displayed.

Steele said that a model from 1930, the “talking scale,” was described as “the advent of computers” by a Smithsonian official. He opened it up to demonstrate. When the user would step on the scale, a rod with a stylus would rise and lower. The stylus would settle into a groove on a record depending on the weight and the record would spin, thus reading the weight aloud.

Steele owns several advertising products as well. Among the collection are scales marketing RC Cola, Pepsi and another one of his favorites, a 1951 Planter’s “Mr. Peanut” model. He said buying the Planter’s scale was a challenge.

“There were only 65 made,” he said. “I called [the store] every six months for 10 years before they gave in.”

The oldest of Steele’s scales dates back to 1890 and the newest is the Pepsi model which came about in 1992. Other machines include horoscope and candy dispensers.

All of the scales are still in working order. Steele said that the scales hailed back to a better era of production quality.

“The scales from that era age remarkably,” he said. “Today’s digital models don’t last nearly as long.”

Steele said that the popularity of penny-scales dropped off due largely to inflation. He said that as the price rose to a nickel and higher, the public became less interested. Still, Steele thinks that the potential for a reemergence is out there.

Steele has helped complete a design for a modern public scale, but he is waiting for funding to pursue its manufacture. Steele’s reason for bringing back public scales is not sentimental, however.

“I am an advocate for the return of the public weigh,” he said. “Public scales encourage the public to monitor their health. It would fight obesity.”

He also pointed out that a majority of the scales are environmentally friendly as they are completely mechanical and require no electricity.

Steele also enjoys the interest that children have in his scales. As he walked through the exhibit, a child loudly proclaimed the features of a scale to their mother. Steele described a scene he witnessed at COSI, where one of his scales is on display.

“Kids were standing in line waiting to climb on,” he said. “I was
touched.”