Dry Card Compass

Dry Card Compass

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Description
This compass has a brass bowl gimbal mounted in a wooden box. A label on the box reads: "BRASS COMPASS, MANUFACTURED BY S. THAXTER & SON, 125 STATE STREET, BOSTON. Dealers in Nautical Instruments, Charts, Nautical Books, &c. N.B. Nautical Instruments Repaired." S. Thaxter & Sons sent this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1880, perhaps for use in the International Fishery Exhibition which opened in Berlin on April 20 of that year. The compass was clearly shown in the similar exhibition held in London in 1883.
Ref: G. Brown Goode, et. al., Descriptive Catalogues of the Collections Sent from the United States to the International Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883 (Washington, D.C., 1884), vol. 2, p. 725.
Location
Currently not on view
Object Name
nautical compass (dry card)
maker
S. Thaxter & Son
place made
United States: Massachusetts, Boston
Measurements
compass: 7 in; 17.78 cm
overall: 6 3/4 in x 10 1/8 in x 10 in; 17.145 cm x 25.7175 cm x 25.4 cm
ID Number
PH.039384
catalog number
39384
accession number
8745
Credit Line
S. Thaxter & Sons
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Data Source
National Museum of American History
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