Accession No
0801
Brief Description
mining compass, German, 17th century
Origin
Germany
Maker
Class
surveying
Earliest Date
1600
Latest Date
1700
Inscription Date
Material
wood; ivory; metal (brass, steel); glass
Dimensions
length 124mm; breadth 72mm; height 45mm
Special Collection
Robert Whipple collection
Provenance
Gifted to Robert Stewart Whipple by Gertrude Hamilton (trading as ’Mercator’), Paris, France, on 31/03/1936.
Inscription
‘M A’ [Morgen and Abend] (in compass)
Description Notes
Wooden compass box with ivory edges. Ivory hook sights. Compass rotatable, carries brass dial divided [0] - 24 numbered by 1 subdivided to 1/8. Ivory compass box with north-south line marked. Blued steel needle with arrow for north. Upper surface of box decorated with carved foliage. Ivory sides engraved with scale divided [0] - [58] numbered by 10 subdivided to 1, and with foliage pattern at corners above scale and along opposite side.
Condition good; complete
References
Events
Description
This small German mining compass is described in detail by Agricola in De Re Metallica (1556). It is divided into twenty four divisions since “Miners reckon as man points as the sailors do in reckoning up the numbers of the winds... Any miner who please may therefore call the directions of veins by the names of the winds”.
31/08/2006
Created by: updated by Ruth Horry on 31/08/2006
FM:40205
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