23,000 CHF
J. H. de Magellan, London, circa 1780. A very rare small astronomical regulator, perhaps for a portable observatory. Notes Although not himself an investigator of nature, Magellan was immensely well-informed concerning comtemporarydevelopments in the exact sciences and chemistry. He acted as an intermediary between scholars, transmitting the latest scientific news, and as an agent for the supply of London-made scientific instruments and machines to savants and institutions throughout Europe. Most of his publications were descriptions, in French, of English scientific apparatus which while being valuable, popularising descriptions of new apparatus, also served as a form of trade catalogue.Among the scientific apparatus that Magellan had made in London on commission for institutions such as the University of Coimbra or savants such as Horace Bénédict de Saussure, are avery small group of small astronomical regulators. Apart from the example offered here, seven other specimens are known one of which was made for the Physics Collection of CoimbraUniversity, one for either the Observatory or the University of Geneva, and others for the observatories of Gdansk, Madrid, Florence and Helsinki. Despite minor variations in the layout of the dials, it is clear that all were engraved by the same hand and that all eight clocks are of the best London work. A further clock bearing Magellan's name, an adaptation of Franklin's 4-hour dial clock as described by James Ferguson (See Anti
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
1999-10-23
