Yesterday, late afternoon in the rain/darkness, I dropped into our local tip/recycling centre, they were just getting ready to close, I quickly put the recycling into the paper bin and then went to check their rubbish bins to see what had been thrown in.
I saw in the last bin the item pictured below, which I thought was a sextant, and lent into the skip and pulled it out, moments before the centres digger crushed down the contents of the bin, ready for more rubbish to be thrown in !
Armed with this item and a bag of new paintbrushes (also in the bin, I've got some decorating to do soon), I went off to find the chap running the tip and was charged the grand sum of £1.
Now having looked on the net, I have found out it is an Octant and was made around 1790 early 1800's, the is no makers name that I can see (it is missing an Ivory label from the central bar), but the ivory scale along the bottom has a fouled anchor on it (see last photo), is this possibley a Royal Navy mark ?
The Octant measures a massive 16 inches high and 13 inches wide, it is ebony framed, with brass fittings and ivory scales.
Anyone any ideas ?
Thanks
Gary
I saw in the last bin the item pictured below, which I thought was a sextant, and lent into the skip and pulled it out, moments before the centres digger crushed down the contents of the bin, ready for more rubbish to be thrown in !
Armed with this item and a bag of new paintbrushes (also in the bin, I've got some decorating to do soon), I went off to find the chap running the tip and was charged the grand sum of £1.
Now having looked on the net, I have found out it is an Octant and was made around 1790 early 1800's, the is no makers name that I can see (it is missing an Ivory label from the central bar), but the ivory scale along the bottom has a fouled anchor on it (see last photo), is this possibley a Royal Navy mark ?
The Octant measures a massive 16 inches high and 13 inches wide, it is ebony framed, with brass fittings and ivory scales.
Anyone any ideas ?
Thanks
Gary
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