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Turned brass nautical travel compass English manufacture mid-19th sc

About the Item

Rare turned brass nautical travel compass complete with cover, rose on eight-wind paper complete with goniometric circle from copperplate engraving. English manufacture from the mid-19th century. Very good state of preservation, fully functional. Diameter cm 4.5 to 1.8 inches, height 2 cm to 0.75 inches. The last photo is the gift box. The Greeks and the Romans were still unaware of the possibility of harnessing magnetic fields for orientation, while it seems that this possibility was already somewhat known to the Chinese: around 2600 B.C. Emperor Hoang-Ti was able to overcome Prince Tchi-Yeou in battle thanks to a "magic" chariot, the See-Nan (chariot pointing south). The emperor, thanks to this device, identified the enemy's escape route, despite the fact that the enemy had concealed it through a blanket of smoke: fixed on the chariot was a human-shaped wooden silhouette that rotated on itself and, with its arm outstretched, always pointed south (pointing south of course was also pointing north at the same time, but south was considered by the Chinese to be the most important cardinal point. The earliest hints of the use in Europe of instruments that harnessed magnetic force for navigational orientation date back to the late 12th century, mainly due to the knowledge brought by Arab merchants and navigators: we find hints of this in Alexander Neckam's work "De nominibus utensilium" and in the works of Guyot de Provins in which the magnet is referred to as the "sailor's companion." The inventory of a 13th-century Sicilian ship, the San Nicolo, also mentions the presence of a magnet and a "ligno compass" on board.

Dimensions:

Height: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)Diameter: 1.8 in (4.58 cm)

Materials and Techniques:

Brass

Period:

1850-1859

Date of Manufacture:

1850

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use.

Seller Location:

Milan, IT