Brass Sextant England 19th Century - V

19th Century / 1801 - 1900

Sextant with brass frame, vernier with adjusting screw and microscope for reading, three coloured filters for the fixed mirror, four for the mobile mirror. Marked "P. & G. Mattei Cardiff".

Fuller's Spiral Slide Rule

Fuller's cylindrical slide rule. It consists of an outer wooden cylinder that slides up and down and rotates, covered with paper marked with a graduated spiral logarithmic scale; inside is a longer wooden cylinder, also covered with paper marked with decimal tables. A brass index is screwed to the top of the neck, a second, longer brass index is screwed to the mahogany base and marked with a scale. The outer sliding cylinder is marked near the top: “FULLERS SPIRAL SLIDE RULE”; at the bottom it's marked: “ENTD. STATS. HALL / STANLEY, Maker, LONDON". The upper part of the long brass index is engraved: 1791 (/) 1903, for which it can be assumed (as for another similar specimen, preserved at the National Museum of American History) that the first is the serial number, while the second the year of completion. George Fuller, professor of civil engineering at Queen's University in Belfast, Ireland, patented this instrument in 1878; the Stanley firm produced about 14,000 Fuller spiral slide rules in nearly a hundred years.

"Baradelle a Paris"

Theodolite in gilded brass, with fixed and movable alidade central compass; signed on the underside "Baradelle a Paris". Baradelle was a French family of makers of scientific instruments; their production includes that of the father Jean-Louis-Jacques (active from 1752 to 1794) and his son Nicholas Eloi (active from 1774 to 1814), both signing indiscriminately with the sole surname. There is the painted and gilded wooden base with phytomorphic motifs as well. A similar theodolite belongs to the English collections of the Science Museum Group.

Hamburg 1837 - 1862

Sextant "D. Filby Hamburg" in ebonized wood, brass and bone, vernier with adjustment screw, three colored filters for the fixed mirror and four for the mobile one, sighting telescope with optics. Contained in a wooden box in mahogany.

"Butterfield a Paris"

Leveller set square with plumb line, in gilded brass, signed “Butterfield a Paris”; there also is the inscription "pouces de Roy". Michael Butterfield (1635-1724) was an English watchmaker who moved to Paris around 1663, where he worked at the royal court and was appointed engineer by Louis XIV. He opened a shop of precision instruments, and specialized, in particular, in the production of sundials. Among his main customers is the Tsar Peter the Great, who also visited the workshop in 1717.

T. WALKER'S Patent HARPOON SHIP LOG A.2.

Mechanical harpoon towing log/"Harpoon towing log" model A2, made of brass and porcelain, without stabiliser, fitted with three dials on the porcelain panel, of which the first records miles up to 100, the second records units up to 10 miles, the third records quarter miles. The four rotor blades are stamped with the anchor motif and the initials T.W. The design details and features suggest a production date around 1880.

J. H. Steward 406 Strand London

Brass laboratory microscope, J. H. Steward, 406 Strand London. The mahogany box containing it has an empty slot and signs of a possible attack on the inside of the lid. The inscription "St. Paul's Churchyard" (active location between c.1867 and 1930) on a component found in the wooden box and the characteristics of the instrument allow us to date it with good probability to the last quarter of the 19th century.

Italy, Early XX Century

Early 20th century brass telescope diopter. Alidade composed of a flat rod, called rule, at the ends of which two pinnulae rise hinged; equipped with metric scale, compass, spirit level and distance metric collimator telescope.

Italy, Mid XX Century ca

Galloni Dental Technician Parallelometer.

Sextant with brass frame, vernier with adjustment screw, three colored filters for the fixed mirror and three for the mobile one, aiming telescope.

18th Century / 1701 - 1800

Brass alidade for a praetorian tablet, consisting of a flat rod, called a ruler, at the ends of which two pinnules with a pin for locking are hinged. Contained in an original leather and suede case on the inside.

Europe Mid 1900s approx.

Glass chemical laboratory instrument with brass elements, iron base and thermos.