These photos were shared with us by Gina Kopac, who has been with Barrick Gold Corporation since 2013 and was Executive Assistant to the late Peter Munk.Â
Gina says, “We recently renovated the Toronto office and had to clear out a lot of old items in storage, as well as all the desk spaces and cupboards to make way for new carpets and a fresh lick of paint. I came across this box, tucked away in the back of a drawer of a filing cabinet and just wanted to check what was inside. Most of our geologists are in the field, and nobody in the office really knew what it was for.”
Gina decided to contact CIM as there was an envelope inside the box with the CIM logo on it. She says she didn’t want to just throw it out in case it was valuable, or of any historical interest.Â
The instrument is labelled as a “Balance” from the Heusser Instrument Manufacturing Company of Salt Lake City, Utah. It appears that it is one of only 500 such instruments that were made. Taken out of the box (see the first photo in the gallery) it resembles a steel dragonfly, and judging from the warning in red letters on the box, and how carefully it was packed, it is quite delicate. Â
We are quite intrigued by this beautiful and mysterious instrument! If you know what this instrument was for and how it was used, we would be happy to hear from you.