Scientific Instruments
Items relating to scientific history are a popular collecting area in which number of specialist dealers and auctioneers operate. The field overlaps into sectors such as antique tools, technology, medicine and maritime history.
Objects in this area that regularly appear on the market include microscopes, telescopes, optical devices, globes, sundials and astrolabes as well as dental, drawing and navigational instruments.
Navigate a route, north and south
20 February 2023Jason Clarke Antiques has for sale at £8500 this unusually large 9in diameter, c.1770, universal equinoctial ring dial by Dollond of London
Telescope on offer from renowned German maker
20 February 2023Georg Merz and Joseph Mahler took over the Utzschneider & Fraunhofer company in 1839.
A world coming into focus thanks to Negretti & Zambra
20 February 2023Early stereoscopic images featured in the collection of a dealer curious about how technology transformed life in Victorian times
Quadrant provided early help if all at sea
20 February 2023The Winter Maritime Sale at Eldreds on February 28-March 1 includes an 18th century Islamic brass quadrant made in the Maghreb region of north-west Africa.
Optical expertise all round
20 February 2023The famous firm of Negretti & Zambra was formed in London in 1850 by the Italian-born Henry Negretti and Joseph Warren Zambra
Weather forecast all in one
20 February 2023Dreweatts in Newbury has for sale this fine Victorian ‘weather station’ with a full provenance and a portrait of its former owner.
Prize winning horizontal steam engine shows ‘exceptional engineering’
20 February 2023Steam engine made in France and later installed in Sussex museum graced same exhibition as the Eiffel Tower
Civil engineer’s career took him from Grimsby to Brazil
20 February 2023A substantial Victorian monocular microscope auctioned by Flints (25% buyer’s premium) dated 1858 and 1863 on the objectives was not only a good bit of kit with lots of accessories included but came signed with the owner’s name in several places.
Edison Electric Pen turned out to be good for tattooing, not so for copying
20 February 2023Thomas Edison’s electric pen might not have flourished as planned for the purpose of duplicating documents but if you have a tattoo you can be thankful.
Dealer Hawkins to sell townhouses tempters
02 January 2023Antiques dealer and taxidermy specialist Emma Hawkins is selling a collection from her townhouses in Edinburgh and London at Sotheby’s this month.
Guilmet’s torpedo clock boat shoots away at auction
07 November 2022André Romain Guilmet’s industrial themed clocks, the epitome of Victorian ‘progress’, are an ever-popular series.
Focus on microscope taken on Captain Cook’s first Voyage of Discovery
24 October 2022A microscope used by Joseph Banks (1743-1820) on Captain Cook’s first Voyage of Discovery (1768-71) is going under the hammer estimated at £30,000-50,000 on November 1.
Pick of the week: Wheel time measured by real time machine
06 June 2022By 1920, as a new era of aero-engined racing cars threatened to break the 100mph barrier, the emerging sport of motor racing required better and more precise time-keeping.
Retro fair makes call on name change
25 April 2022The National Vintage Communications Fair has rebranded itself and is now called RetroTechUK.
Cataloguing the best in London and beyond
21 March 2022A round-up of current catalogues from folk-art at the rescheduled Winter Show to the Mellor-Cobham collection of English porcelain at Albert Amor
French inventor Colmar's Arithmomètre sells in German saleroom
14 March 2022Although the French inventor Charles-Xavier Thomas de Colmar introduced the first model of his calculating machine Arithmomètre in 1820, he waited some 30 years before he started producing them in series.
Dealers continue appliance of science despite fair demise
14 February 2022The Antique Scientific Instruments Fair ran for 30-plus years but sadly is no more, with its last outing taking place under the banner of the Scientific Instrument Society held as part of the Antique Arms Fair in London in September 2019.
Stereoscopy book by historian and rock star praises King’s College London professor
20 November 2021The launch of Queen’s guitarist Brian May and historian Denis Pellerin’s new book ‘Stereoscopy: The Dawn of 3-D’ was held at King’s College London to honour a past-professor at the university.
Fossils fuel interest in 19th century microscope slides
01 November 2021A group of early 19th century microscope slides mounted with specimens of fossilised wood sold for £11,500 (estimate £1000-1500) to a Canadian private collector at Special Auction Services (25% buyer’s premium) in Newbury.
Elephant in the room: an exceptional clock
18 October 2021A rare 17th century elephant automaton clock was the star of the Christie’s New York Exceptional sale when it sold at $2.15m (£1.58m) to a private buyer.
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