The Secretary of Commerce is authorized and directed to furnish precise copies of standard weights and measures, bearing the seal of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and accompanied by a suitable certificate, to any State, Territory, or institution heretofore furnished with the same, upon application in writing by the governor in the case of a State or Territory, or by the official head in the case of an institution, setting forth that the copies of standards applied for are to replace similar ones heretofore furnished, in accordance with law, which have been lost or destroyed: Provided