Accession No

6654

Brief Description

sector, brass, attributed to Elias Allen, English, 1 1/2 17th century

Origin

England; London

Maker

Allen, Elias [attributed]

Class

calculating; mathematics

Earliest Date

1607

Latest Date

1653

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass)

Dimensions

165mm (length) x 30mm (width) x 4mm (depth)

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Tesseract, Box 151, Hastings on Hudson, New York, 10706, U.S.A. on 13/01/2018. Item no. 29, Catalogue 106, Winter 2017/2018.

Inscription

Description Notes

Sector, English, 1 1/2 17th century

Scales hand-engraved with hinged brass strut. One side bears and English inch rule running 0 - 12 in eighths and just one doubled sector scale giving proportional parts. The reverse presents six linear reduction scales for chart or map making or reading, giving a choice of 10, 12, 16, 20, 24 or 32 parts (whether inches, feet, miles etc) per inch.

Attributed to Elias Allen based on a detailed comparison with the photographs in the works of Jane Turner (Engraved Lettering on Mathematical Instruments, 1982) and Gerard Turner (Elizabethan Instrument Makers, 2000) - although it is noted that the numerals are very characteristic of many 17th century English makers including H. Cole, Whitwell, Ryther and Sutton.

References

Events