$5,875
Brass Surveyor's Compass by Ziba Blakslee, with 5 1/2-inch dia. silvered dial with raised central plate signed in script Ziba Blacskslee and upper case New * Town , stylized fleur-de-lis at North position of eight-point rose with engraved roundel, inclinometer scale (at North and South) divided 30-0-30 and read on opposite sides by brass pointer, blued-steel needle with brass lifting arm set from underside, the needle ring with engraved divisions 0 - 90 ° in four quadrants, on straight brass limb with brass sights with sculpted tips, held in place by flattened screws, ht. 9 x lg. 14 1/2 in., (original glass cracked, one screw repaired), in hollowed-out field case with label of Brown & Hunt, Mathematic Instrument Maker, No. 27 Fulton Slip, New York in border depicting mathematical, philosophical and surveying instruments. Note: Smart lists Ziba Blakslee (born in Plymouth, Connecticut, in 1768) as a bell-founder, jeweler and maker of surveying instruments, in Newtown, Connecticut, from 1792 until his death in November 1834. The early straight limb and crisp engraving bears a strong resemblance to a compass by Abner Dodd, also with inclinometer, sold in Science & Technology , 4. May, 2005, lot 274.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2006-07-29
