Sextant with an ebony frame and reinforced brass index arm. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -5° to +140° and read by vernier with tangent screw to 30 seconds of arc. It belonged to the University of Alabama, and probably dates from the mid-nineteenth century. A trade card in the box reads: "CASA FUNDADA EN 1837 PRECIO FIJO GRAN ESTABLECIMIENTO DE Instrumentos de D. JOSÉ ROSELL BARCELONA Plaza de Palacio, Numero, 13." The inscription on the instrument reads "JOSÉ ROSELL BARCELONA."
José Rosell began in business in Barcelona in 1837, offering a wide variety of mathematical, optical, and philosophical instruments. In 1905 the shop was known as Antigua Casa Rosell.
Ref: José Rosell, Prospecto del Nuevo y Grandioso Establecimento de Instrumentos Científicos (Barcelona, n.d.).
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