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Miniature pocket globe in colourful card box

About the Item

Miniature terrestrial pocket globe. Model of the earth. London, 1857 by J. Manning diameter of 1,75 inches / 4,5 cm. This lovely miniature terrestrial globe consists of twelve copper engraved, hand coloured gores over a wooden base. The gores are varnished. The colouring is both subtle and original. With a central pin contained in a colourful card box. A little about miniature globes: The miniature or pocket globe was a British invention, introduced to the world by Joseph Moxon in 1673 when he produced a 3-inch globe. To own a pocket globe is to have the whole world in miniature. Pocket globes were never to be taken very seriously – they never served any practical purpose; their size makes accurate calculations impossible, and they tend to lack the rings and dials for most common manipulations. No, they were seen more as a status symbol, or a lovely decorative artistic artefact to reside on a gentleman’s desk or small table. There is a school of thought that some of the cheaper pocket globes may have aided children’s education. Today, they reflect a lost and never-to-be-forgotten age of exploration and discovery. The heyday or peak time for the pocket globe was the late 18th century.
  • Creator:
    Michael Manning (Maker)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 2 in (5.08 cm)Diameter: 1.75 in (4.45 cm)
  • Style:
    Early Victorian (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1857
  • Condition:
    Repaired: card box restored. Wear consistent with age and use.
  • Seller Location:
    ZWIJNDRECHT, NL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU9419239073662
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    By Nathaniel Mills
    Located in ZWIJNDRECHT, NL
    A truly delightful miniature terrestrial pocket globe in a celestial case, 3 inches / 6.8 cm. The globe consists of 12 wonderful varnished, engraved hand-coloured gores that stretch from pole to pole. In the original case of black fish-skin with a brass hinge and two brass hook-and-eyelet closures, case with a unique silver plaque which reads: "B. Bellchamber S. King - Gul's Fox Summum Geographicum Praemium Pares Meruere". * [This very roughly translates to:] "B. Bellchamber S. King - Gul's Fox Earns Top Geographical Peers Award". *Is it too much to suppose and speculate that this wonderful silver plaque attached to the outer case is in recognition of a [geographic?] scholastic achievement? The prize awarded to the lucky recipients (B. Bellchamber & S. King?) is this globe? This terrestrial globe has two repairs; to the area concerning the British Isles, and also to parts of Europe and Scandinavia (with some loss). There is some slight loss to a portion of North America, and there is a crack to the northern portion of South America. It is partly worn in other places and has some slight spotting. It is lacking the axis metal pin, and the two holes that normally allow for this pin have been closed. The case is split and segmented, partly rubbed and worn with cracks, (as is usual.) The case will close. There is some minor chipping and cracking to the outer rim of the inside of the case. About Pocket Globes. It is generally thought that Joseph Moxon brought pocket globes to England in the late seventeenth century. These globes usually consist of a terrestrial sphere of about 7.5 cm in diameter that fits into an outer case (usually made of fish-skin). The interior of this case often bears bright, colourful celestial cartography, so you effectively have the celestial heavens surrounding the terrestrial earth. Pocket globes, although highly desirable, are for all intents and purposes somewhat impractical, as their size makes accurate calculations impossible. Few, if any, pocket globes came with accompanying booklets, so it is hard for anyone to know who used them and for what purposes. Pocket globes could simply have served purely as status symbols for wealthy gentlemen, who had an interest in geography or astronomy. The fields of geography and the sciences were quickly advancing during this period. Alternatively, pocket globes could be seen as a tool used in children’s education, especially when you think that they are construction from cheap materials such as papier-mâché. Points of Interest. This particular globe shows California as a peninsula, whereas previously it had been depicted as an island – a misconception dating back to the sixteenth century; it has the northwest coast of America simply as "unknown parts."; - due to a profound lack of knowledge of the region; the track of Admiral George Anson’s circumnavigation of the world (1740-44) is drawn – Anson led a squadron of eight ships on a mission to disrupt or capture the Pacific Ocean possessions of the Spanish Empire, for emphases, the trade winds are indicated by red arrows. There are three large lakes engraved in Africa that may longer exist. The Celestial Gores. The celestial gores, housed within the case, are fun and eye-catching both in their display and in their content. Constellations and both hemispheres and are represented. Gemini, Cancer, Virgo, Orion, Andromeda, Taurus, Leo, Ursa Major etc in the north, and Scorpio, Libra, Canis Major etc in the south. A celestial globe is a mapping of the stars, and has been used since classical times. Celestial globes were first used by Greek astronomers, and later by the Islamic world, where the earliest known globes date from the eleventh century. The stars were thought to sit on the surface of a giant sphere around the earth, and the constant movement of the stars each night and throughout the year appeared to be caused by this giant sphere slowly turning overhead. In line with its counterpart, the terrestrial globe, celestial globes are mapped by a north and a south pole, an equator, and lines of latitude and longitude. The Terrestrial Globe. The North Pole encompasses the Arctic Circle, Baffin Bay (Canada), Iceland, Greenland, northern Siberia and Nuova Zembla. 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