Brass sextant H.G. Blair & Co 53, James St. Cardiff second half of the 19th century

View Similar Items

Brass sextant signed B. Cooke & Son Hull from the second half of the 19th century

Torricellian barometer French manufacture from the second half of the 19th century

Leiden bottle second half of the 19th century accumulates preserves electrical charges

Johannes Nepomuk bohemian 1st half of the 19th century

Model with Nasrid Plasterwork Motif from Granada Second Half of the 19th Century

Antique icon Zosima and Swataj, second half 19th century

Fassamano French Tortoise antique Eyeglasses second half 19th Century

Metronome system Paquet 1815 and J. Maelzel 1846 from the second half of the 19th century.

Fassamano French Tortoise Antique Eyeglasses Second Half 19th Century

Immaculate Conception Chapel, Second Half of the 18th Century

Brass sextant signed Imray & Son 89 & 102 Minories London mid-19th century

Reredos Fragment, Gilded Wood, circa Second Half of the 17th Century

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 21

Brass sextant H.G. Blair & Co 53, James St. Cardiff second half of the 19th century

$3,474.62List Price

About the Item

Brass sextant signed H.G. Blair & Co 53, James St. Cardiff, from the second half of the 19th century and housed in its original box mahogany wood with brass handle, hinges and locking hooks, complete with key lock . Silver flap and vernier, wooden handle, 3 colored glasses for fixed mirror and 4 for movable mirror, three telescopes, 1 filter, 1 registration key, vernier graduated from 0 to 150°, index and horizon mirror. Conservation status: very good, working and complete with base for stand made of custom wood and brass. Box size 25.5x23x13 cm - inches 10x9.1x5.2. The last photo is the gift box. Blair & Co was founded in Bristol in 1829 by John Blair, the company remained in Bristol until the owner decided to move in Cardiff for expand trade in South Wales. In 1926 a general strike paralyzed all shipping and Blair was forced to sell the company to a consortium of local shipowners. In 1927 the company changed its name to Blairs Nautical Supplies. Typist Nellie Ramsay with her sister Mabel entered the company in 1908, eventually becoming its owners and retiring from the business in 1970. The sextant is an ancient astronomical instrument used for measuring the height of a star (e.g., the Sun): one places the instrument in a vertical plane and, looking through the aiming device, aims at the horizon line visible through the unsilvered half of the fixed mirror. Moving the alidade, with which the mirror is integral, causes light rays from the star and subsequently reflected by the moving mirror and the silver half of the fixed mirror are sent back from the latter in the direction of observation: if you look through the aiming device you can see the image of the star, obtained by double reflection, coincide with the horizon line. The height of the astro is expressed by the angle whose value is read on the graduated scale. The filter is used when the star to be looked at is the Sun. It was Sir Isaac Newton who invented the principle of double reflection in navigation instruments, but this research was never published. Subsequently, two men, independently of each other, discovered the sextant around 1730 : John Hadley (1682-1744), an English mathematician, and Thomas Godfrey, (1704-1749), an American inventor. But it was not until 1758 that Admiral John Campbell carried out a series of offshore trials to test a new method that relied on lunar distance as a means of calculating longitude. This was how the sextant was developed. Initially made of brass, they had scales divided with great precision by mathematicians who made scientific instruments.

Dimensions:
Height: 5.2 in (13.21 cm)Width: 9.1 in (23.12 cm)Depth: 10.9 in (27.69 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Brass
Period:
1870-1879
Date of Manufacture:
1870
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Milan, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1020243587682

More From This Seller

View All

Brass sextant signed B. Cooke & Son Hull from the second half of the 19th century

Located in Milan, IT

Brass sextant signed B. Cooke & Son Hull, from the second half of the 19th century and housed in its original mahogany wood box with brass handle, hinges, and locking hooks, complete...

Category

Antique 1870s Nautical Objects

Materials

Brass

Brass sextant signed B. Cooke & Son Hull from the second half of the 19th century

$3,534

Torricellian barometer French manufacture from the second half of the 19th century

Located in Milan, IT

Torricellian mercury barometer, French manufacture from the second half of the 19th century, made of mahogany veneer wood with cedar wood edge threading complete with rare thermomet...

Category

Antique 1870s Scientific Instruments

Materials

Wood

Torricellian barometer French manufacture from the second half of the 19th century

$2,336

Leiden bottle second half of the 19th century accumulates preserves electrical charges

Located in Milan, IT

Leiden bottle from the second half of the 19th century is about an electrical component that accumulates and stores a high-voltage electrical charge by means of an external source ...

Category

Antique 1880s Scientific Instruments

Materials

Glass

Leiden bottle second half of the 19th century accumulates preserves electrical charges

$479

Fassamano French Tortoise antique Eyeglasses second half 19th Century

Located in Milan, IT

Fassamano (from the French face-a-main) eyeglasses with handle that turns into a case shaped like the lenses; dark tortoise eyeglasses, oval lenses...

Category

Antique 1860s French Scientific Instruments

Materials

Bakelite

Fassamano French Tortoise antique Eyeglasses second half 19th Century

$658

Metronome system Paquet 1815 and J. Maelzel 1846 from the second half of the 19th century.

Located in Milan, IT

Metronome system Paquet 1815 and Johan Maelzel 1846 from the second half of the 19th century. Measurements 11x11x23.5 cm - 4.3x4.3x9.3. The last photo is the gift box. This is an oa...

Category

Antique 1870s Musical Instruments

Materials

Wood

Metronome system Paquet 1815 and J. Maelzel 1846 from the second half of the 19th century.

$1,437

Fassamano French Tortoise Antique Eyeglasses Second Half 19th Century

Located in Milan, IT

Fassamano (from the French face-a-main) eyeglasses with handle that turns into a case shaped like the lenses; dark tortoise eyeglasses, oval lenses...

Category

Antique 1860s French Scientific Instruments

Materials

Bakelite

Fassamano French Tortoise Antique Eyeglasses Second Half 19th Century

$479

Antique Mid-19th Century Czech Bohemian Religious Items

Materials

Wood

Johannes Nepomuk bohemian 1st half of the 19th century

$1,200

Model with Nasrid Plasterwork Motif from Granada Second Half of the 19th Century

Located in Marbella, ES

Mould with Nasrid plasterwork motif. Granada, second half of the 19th century. Plaster. It has slight flaws on the edges. Measurements: 28 x 41 x 2 m. Following the Mudéjar tradition of working plaster as a decorative material, this plaster mould...

Category

Antique 19th Century Spanish Architectural Models

Materials

Plaster

Model with Nasrid Plasterwork Motif from Granada Second Half of the 19th Century

$2,276

Antique icon Zosima and Swataj, second half 19th century

Located in Gorssel, GE

Zosima and Swataj, founders of the Solowetski Monastery, holding a model of their monastery in their hands, Old Believers icon, second half 19th century. Dimensions: 30 x 35 cm.

Category

Antique 19th Century Russian Religious Items

Materials

Wood

Antique icon Zosima and Swataj, second half 19th century

$3,893

Immaculate Conception Chapel, Second Half of the 18th Century

Located in Madrid, ES

Sculpture, carved wood, glass, metal. Carved wooden chapel with decoration on the top of balustrade and balusters in the shape of a vase of a certain Baroque memory, which presents t...

Category

Antique 18th Century Spanish Neoclassical Religious Items

Materials

Metal, Other

Immaculate Conception Chapel, Second Half of the 18th Century

$958

Reredos Fragment, Gilded Wood, circa Second Half of the 17th Century

Located in Madrid, ES

Altarpiece. Wood carved and gilded. Baroque, towards the second half of the 17th century. The Solomonic column was an element already known in the Renaissance (and before) that was popularized in art, in large part, thanks to the Baldachin of St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1624-1633), where he presented branches. In Spain, this type can already be seen in the Silver Tabernacle of the Cathedral of Seville (Juan de Alfaro, 15931596), used in altarpieces from the 1620s; nevertheless, the apogee of the Solomonic column will come from the hand of José Benito de Churriguera, whose altarpieces have an extraordinary importance since the second half of the 17th century and already at the beginning of the 18th century (note similarities and differences between the present altarpiece and that of the Convent of San Esteban...

Category

Antique 17th Century European Baroque Religious Items

Materials

Wood

Reredos Fragment, Gilded Wood, circa Second Half of the 17th Century

$14,377

Bronze Mortar, Tuscany, Second Half of 16th Century

Located in Bruxelles, BE

Bronze mortar with garlands, flowers and putti - Tuscany , second half of 17th century. Measures: height 10 diameter : 13 cm Artisans and healers used mortars for grinding food...

Category