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DANISH, 1677-AFTER 1699 1699

RARE LATE 17TH CENTURY CROSS-STAFF BY ABRAHAM TADE

Signed and dated on the ebony shaft "A Tade * 1699", on the side of the staff approximately five inches up from the square end. The sides bear graduated scales for altitude and zenith distances. Four pear-wood vanes with wing-shaped brass set screws. The smallest vane measures 3.5" in length by 1.5" wide and has an elk-horn sighting vane required when using the instrument as a back-staff. The two largest vanes measure 15.25" and 24.125" in length by 1.5" wide. The second smallest vane measures 7.5" (length) by 1.5" (wide) and is original to the instrument, signed in ink "D de Waay", believed to be that of an owner. The vane has a replacement brass aperture disc fitted to one end for using the instrument as a back-staff. The brass set screw is also a replacement.
The shaft .53" x 32.5". Height on stand 24". Length on stand 32.5".
Condition: Overall condition is excellent. The shaft is original and in excellent condition, with one original vane, and fitted with three additional modern ones.

  • Provenance: Provenance
    A private collection
    Antiquairs, Grijpma & Van Hoogen in Groningen, purchased from the above, ca. 1990.
    Hyland Granby Antiques, Hyannisport, Massachusetts, purchased from the above, ca. 1997.
    The Kelton Foundation, purchased from the above in 1998

    Literature
    Willem F.J. Mörzer Bruyns, The Cross-Staff, History and Development of a Navigational Instrument, Rijksmuseum Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum; Zutphen, Walburg Institute, 1994, Historical information on pp. 14-16, 20-30, and pg. 53.
    Willem F.J. Mörzer Bruyns, Bulletin #80 of the Scientific Instrument Society, March 2004.

    In the definitive treatise on these instruments, The Cross-Staff, History and Development of a Navigational Instrument by W.F.J. Mörzer Bruyns, contains a list of all known instruments extant. This instrument is listed on page 53 as number 15 in oldest date order, and the only known cross-staff by this maker. There are only four older instruments in good or very good condition and this is the only 17th Century example in private hands. Less than 100 cross-staffs exist in any condition throughout the world. Of these, only about 40 are in good - very good condition with at least one original vane. Of these, most are in institutions. Cross-staffs were first described and probably invented around 1342 by the Catalan-born Jewish philosopher and scientist Levi Ben Gerson (1288-1344), then living in Avignon. It was then used only by astronomers. Its use was introduced at sea by the Portuguese around 1515, about 50 years after the quadrant and the astrolabe, probably inspired by Vasco da Gama's observing the Arab's use of the kamal in 1498. Initially the Portuguese used it to measure the altitude of the Pole star, preferring the mariner's astrolabe or the nautical quadrant for sun sights. In the Southern Hemisphere they observed a star in the Southern Cross, although this required the application of a much larger correction than that of the North Star observation. While the back-staff was developed by Davis in 1595, and was popular for almost 200 years, the cross-staff continued in active use. Many, especially the Dutch, considered its ease and accuracy of construction and its ability to make accurate sights preferable to the back-staff. The cross-staff was finally supplanted in the Dutch East India Company ships about 1750 by the octant and later the sextant.

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The Marine Sale Session I
August 4, 2022 9:30 AM EDT
East Dennis, MA, US

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Bid Increments
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$100 $499 $25
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$1,000 $2,999 $100
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$5,000 $9,999 $500
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