Such a treat to find this wonderful old brass ruler yesterday in New Hampshire, with the numbers engraved by hand, perfectly imperfect. The ruler is divided into eights, with one circle at the inch marks, and three at the half inch.I asked a keen and knowledgeable friend about it, who believes it is machinist's ruler—they would often make their own measuring tools (like ladies legs calipers!) so that they could be customized for the specific device that they were working with. He thinks this one may have be for a drill press, with the dots easier to see at a 45⁰ working angle, and that perhaps the half inch mark was the focus, with something, such as a drilled hole, needing to be done on a metal object every 1/2 inch.

I especially love that there is a preserved finger print between the 1 and 2 inch mark, which makes it extra special. Probably the machinist had some sort of acid used for cleaning and preparing metal on his fingers and some got on the brass, which stains and etches easily. Happy accident!

12” x 13/16" and in very good shape, nice mellow patina to the brass, scattered spotting just to the surface, which I have not (and personally would not) clean.