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"SKALA" drafting instrument set in leather case — drawing compass with accessories
Object/Artifact
A compact cased drawing-instrument set. The stitched tan leather slip case has a fold-over flap and holds, in two leather sleeves, a metal precision drawing compass (cyrkiel) fitted with a knurled lengthening bar and a center-wheel (knurled screw) adjustment, plus a short black cylindrical accessory tube (likely a container/holder for spare points or leads). The case flap is embossed with the maker's marks.
2025.6.15
This set belonged to Manuel Suquet, a Mathematics professor at the Pinar del Rio’s Instituto de Perfeccionamiento Educacional.
Sets like this would have reached Cuba through trade agreements and were used in schools of architecture, engineering faculties, and technical institutes.
The Martínez Suquet family collection
Manuel Suquet Delgado collection
2025.6
Mirta Suquet
Gift
Spółdzielnia Pracy "Skala"
Warsaw
Poland
Eastern Europe
Europe
Maker: Spółdzielnia Pracy "Skala" (the "Skala" Work Cooperative), Warsaw, Poland — a Polish drafting-instrument maker. The compass is stamped "SKALA"; the case carries the SKALA globe-and-compass logo and "MADE IN POLAND." Date: No explicit date. SKALA's roots reach to the 1920s, but the English-language "Made in Poland" export marking and the cooperative form indicate People's Republic of Poland (post-war) export production, most plausibly mid-20th century (circa 1960s–1980s).
Case flap (embossed): "MADE IN POLAND"; "PO/SP" (reading slightly uncertain — possibly "PD/SP"; appears to be a product/case code); SKALA logo (globe + compass/spinning-top device in a diamond). Compass (stamped): "SKALA" with registered-trademark device.
Leather
Plaster
Metal
Materials: Tan leather (case); nickel/chrome-plated steel or alloy (compass and lengthening bar); black plastic or hard rubber (accessory tube). Technique: Hand-stitched leather case with blind-embossed marks; machined and plated metal drawing compass with knurled center-wheel adjustment and a screw-on lengthening bar.
Good
Manuel Suquet Delgado
owner
Pinar del Río
Pinar del Río
Cuba
Caribbean
Central America
use