$3,408
Rare Surveying Compass by Daniel King, Salem, with 5 1/2-inch compass card indistinctly marked Made and Sold by Daniel King in Salem, New England , divided 0-90 in four quadrants, with fleur-de-lis to North, scrolls to East and seven illuminated compass points with figures representing Grammar, Logick, Geometry, Arithematick, Astronomy, Rhetorick and Musicke , birch body with staff-mount and two sight vanes, lg. 14 1/2 in., (old split to side, glass cracked). Note: Daniel King (1704-1790) of Salem, Massachusetts, was a maker of mathematical instruments and a "teacher of mathematics." He was succeeded in business by his son Benjamin King (1740-1804). Literature: Silvio A. Bendini, Thinkers and Tinkers, Early American Men of Science , (1975), p. 209 for illustration of a similar (marine) compass dated 1744.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2004-09-11
