590

IMPORTANT EARLY 17TH CENTURY BRASS ASTROLABE FROM THE NUESTRA SENORA DE ATOCHA, SPAIN 1616

Recovered from "the Pilot's chest" in the wreck of the Nuestra Senora De Atocha in 1985. (The Spanish galleons Atocha and Santa Margarita both sank in a sudden storm off the coast of Florida in the autumn of 1622.) Unsigned and impressed with year 1616. Concave ballast to the base, and flanked on either side by mullet and plain arms. Graduated upper quadrants with altitude scale 0-90 degrees at 10-degree intervals and labeled at 50-degree intervals. Lower quadrants also divided, with separate altitude scale centered on the hole below the suspension ring, forming a single 0-90 degree arc, graduated at 10-degree intervals and labeled at 50-degree intervals. Pivoted alidade with adjacent suspension ring, now fitted with a beveled index arm showing a modern repair, reading lower scale. Tabular sights, each with single pinnule.

Includes a certificate of authenticity issued by Treasure Salvor's Inc., and the restoration and treatment report by Maureen Russell.
Diameter 8.25". Thickness .38".

  • Provenance:
    Mel Fisher & Salvor's Inc., recovered from the wreck of the Nuestra Senora De Atocha, 1985.
    Christie's, Treasure Gold and Silver of the Atocha and Margarita Auction, New York, 1988, Lot #19. Acquired from the above sale by Richard Kelton.
    The Kelton Collection of Marine Art & Artifacts.
  • Literature:
    The Mariner's Astrolabe: A Survey of Known Surviving Sea Astrolabes by Alan Stimpson (Utrecht: The National Maritime Museum, HES Publishers, September 1988).
    This astrolabe has been assigned no. 61 in the "Census of Mariner's Astrolabes".

    Condition note:
    The following 17th Century modifications were made: The instrument has been converted to a suspended quadrant. In this configuration it is unique. Since the new scale faces toward the top of the instrument, it is obvious the instrument was to be used suspended below eye level of the observer. Therefore, it was to be used for sun sights; the alidade has been repositioned to the top of the instrument as described in a 16th Century Spanish manuscript and reproduced in a number of contemporary treatises on navigation (Garcia Franco, 1947). Although distorted, the sights and financial arm probably were fixed at an angle of 450, permitting correct orientation of the sights with the graduated 90 degree sector. This modification permits readings of greater precision on the enlarged scale along the lower circumference. This was probably done subsequent to the manufacture as suggested by the overlapping scribe marks on the altitude scales, the use of two distinct number punches on the scales and the apparent modification of the original alidade. While well executed, and using the same circular scribe marks as the scales in the upper quadrants, the work appears to be by a different hand.

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August 20, 2021 9:30 AM EDT
East Dennis, MA, US

Eldred's

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