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

Product Information

This is a late 19th century surveying compass signed 'T. COOKE & SONS LTD. LONDON, YORK & CAPETOWN'

Dating to the early 20th century, this non prismatic compass is very similar in dial design to the early Verners pattern examples and reads 'NIGHT MARCHING COMPASS H.W.W. 1907' and belonged to Australian Surveyor Herbert Wrake Walker. the production of cameras ended but the company continued for some time to sell Ross optical devices such as binoculars or enlarging lenses. Unusually, it comes in a leather pouch with an impressed crest showing two crossed keys and the word 'ROMA' which apparently is the coat of arms of Vatican City, and the insignia of the papacy. I suspect this may have been a gift at some point to represent a 'moral compass' perhaps for someone of the Roman Catholic faith. Not only a sought after compass for a collector, but still practical today for hill walking and similar pursuits, it comes in a leather case which is also in good condition with all stitching intact. Price

This is Aubrey Franks who belonged to the famous Franks family founded in the late 18th century by Isaac Franks. The firm operated in Manchester from 1798 and continued as a family business throughout the 19th & 20th centuries with Aubrey taking it over in 1878. Dating to the latter part of the 19th century, this large mahogany cased compass measuring 8.5" square was originally made for educational purposes but today makes an impressive desk ornament. 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. Dating to circa 1820, this impressive Georgian compass is set in a hinged mahogany case measuring 3" (75mm) square, with a half chamfer on the lid. After Andrew died the firm was run by his son T. R. Ross, and the lenses were engraved Ross, London. J. H. Dallmeyer, who had married Ross's second daughter, Hannah, inherited one third of his employer's large fortune and the telescope manufacturing portion of the business.

The decorative paper compass dial has a full 360 degree scale with 32 cardinal and inter-cardinal points and is in particularly clean for a compass of this age. The Francis Barker range of liquid filled prismatic compasses are among the finest professional compasses ever made, and are currently in use by many military forces around the world including NATO. Made by the celebrated Manchester optician John Benjamin Dancer, son of Josiah Dancer whose business he inherited in 1835, Dancer was a scientific instrument maker who lived from 1812 to 1887 and was renowned for his many contributions to the field of optics, barometers and microscopy. The compass is engraved 'ANGLO-SWISS ASSOCIATION No. 45553, 1915' on the base and stamped with the War department military arrow. It's dated 1912 and signed 'E.R. WATTS & SON, LONDON. 1912, No 3646 \ |/ /|\' on the underside and stamped 'VERNER'S PATTERN VI' on the lid.

PERSONAL GIFTS

A rare compass from the WW1 era dated 1917, it comes in it's original leather carrying case which is in very good condition with all its 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 Charles Parsons acquired a controlling interest in Ross Ltd, of Clapham, where he improved the methods of glass-grinding. Advert in British Industries Fair Catalogue as an Optical, Scientific and Photographic Exhibit. Manufacturers of Photographic Lenses, Cameras, Prism Binoculars, Field Glasses, Opera Glasses, Telescopes, Terrestrial, Astronomical, Cinematograph Projectors, Search-light Arc Lamps, Equipment, Optical Lanterns, Aeronautical, Astronomical and Nautical Instruments, Lenses, Prisms of all kinds. (Scientific Section - Stand No. O.32) [2]

This is a very early WW1 'Angle of Sight' instrument with a low serial number, and made by J H Steward in 1916. 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 not dated, manufacture of the MK V compass design was discontinued in 1916, so we know that this compass predates 1917. The elegant blued steel needle is also engraved with 'N' & 'S' gold letters for clarity, and sits under a glass crystal which is free of any damage. In 1826, Simms joined with Edward Troughton to form the famous partnership of Troughton & Simms, dating this compass to the early 19th century.In very good condition including its leather case, this is a substantial instrument, which weighs 500 grams including the case, and measures 70mm in diameter across the main body. Price 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. This impressive brass surveying compass has two foldable sight vanes set above a silvered dial with 8 cardinal and intercardinal points surrounded by a full 360 degree stepped scale, and a steel needle that pivots on a brass bearing.

Manufactured between 1915 -1930 by Francis Barker & Son for the Indian Army which was still under British rule, it is inscribed 'Mk VII' on the lid and 'M.I.O 1917' on the base, along with a military crowfoot above an 'I', indicating it was part of the Indian Army. The Elementary Education Act of 1870 created elected school boards to build & run schools, and this compass was made for the London School Board by the maker W.W. Hooper, the attractive paper dial reads 'SCHOOL BOARD FOR LONDON. W.W. HOOPER, BOW, E.'

NAUTICAL INSTRUMENTS

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 double broad arrow also shows it was later officially decommissioned for sale into the civilian market. A large mid 19th century gimbal mounted ships compass of impressive proportions, signed 'J. Stevenson, Compass Adjuster, Aberdeen' on the card dial.