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Ross London Pocket Compass with Leather Box - in HIGH Tide or Low Tide I’LL BE by Your Side - Vintage Style Engraved Compass - Adventure Compass - Antique Style Gift Compass

£9.9£99Clearance
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This type of compass was a development of Schmalcalder's Patent compass of 1812 which introduced the idea of using an optical prism, combined with a sighting vane, to improve accuracy when taking bearings.

Made from bronzed brass, measuring just over 5 inches (130mm) in diameter and weighing just under 900 grams, this is an impressive surveying compass. The steel directional needle is impressed with a gold dot for North, and sits under the clean glass crystal which is free of any damage.Constructed from bronzed brass, its engraved 'Angle of Sight Instrument, H.A. MK I, J. H. Steward Ltd, 1916, No 419'. Wood cased compasses are for the most part unsigned, but this is a very nice Mariners style compass in a mahogany case which has a makers name reading ‘ Casella, London, Instrument maker to the Admiralty’ around the dial centre.

Set in a mahogany case, with an attractive paper sunburst dial, divided into 90 degree quadrants and displaying 32 cardinal and inter-cardinal points, it's in very good condition with a glass crystal retained by a brass bezel, and a shapely blued steel needle engraved 'N' & 'S' in gold letters.The elegant blued steel needle is impressed 'N' & 'S' in gold lettering & sits over a clean paper compass dial incorporating 16 cardinal & intercardinal points with a fleur de lys for North. the production of cameras ended but the company continued for some time to sell Ross optical devices such as binoculars or enlarging lenses. Not only is this Glauser MK 4 a rare compass, but it's also in excellent condition and comes complete with its leather case & most of the original service kit. Although designed by J M Glauser, it appears from the instruction sheet that Henry Browne & Son were the sole manufacturers, which suggests that this may have been after 1956 when Jean Maurice Glauser retired.

The lid is attached by small hand made square hinges, fastened with a 7 shaped brass clasp and the paper compass rose is divided into four 90 degree quadrants, showing all the points of the compass with a fleur de lys for North. This mid 19th century brass prismatic sighting compass made by Elliott Brothers is signed 'ELLIOTT BROS, CHARING CROSS, LONDON' on the dial around the pivot.In good condition including its leather case, the only blemish being some scuffing around the edges of the green card dial. This brass bodied surveyors compass has a silvered dial with an outer ring scale divided into four quadrants and a steel needle pivoting on a gemstone bearing under a clean glass crystal. Waters would go on to release notable publications including 'The War in South Africa', ' Secret and confidential : the experiences of a military attaché', and 'Russia Then & Now'.

He was also a personal friend and admirer of the final German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II, having become acquainted in the early 1900s after he wrote favourabley of Wilhelm in his memoirs. (A Collection of books inscribed to Brigadier Wallscourt Hely-Hutchinson Waters, by Kaiser Wilhelm II were sold at auction in 2018) see photo of one example. L & M trace their roots to two London based Jewish families, who set up operations all over the world, initially in London and then the Indian subcontinent.Elected as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1855, he was later appointed Optician to HRH the Prince of Wales. In 1826, Simms joined with Edward Troughton to form the famous partnership of Troughton & Simms, dating this compass to the early 19th century. Not much information is available on the early history of the company in London, but its reputation as makers of high quality scientific instruments was well known. Records show that L & M opened its first Indian office in Calcutta in the year 1877 and rapidly became India's leading opticians with a prestigious client list that included Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Neru. It still has its anti slip rubber ring on the underside, so often missing on these compasses, and comes with its original leather case also dated 1918, which is also in very good condition with all stitching intact. Measuring 3" (75mm) square, a very collectable compass that is well over 200 years old and signed by a renowned maker with Royal accreditation. Price

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