Great estate finds

[BayRockMan]

We love to travel the area looking for treasures buried in estate sales. When known, we try to research the estate owner as a means of determining if interesting pieces will be found. Well, the estate of a former CIA employee certainly fired up the interest meter. We walked away with two great pieces.

First was a gold plated barometric altimeter circa 1857. We were able to find a catalog page from the era that had this piece listed. It's in great working condition. It was tossed in a box with broken watches. We asked for it to be pulled and auctioned on its own and got it for the opening bid. Not sure why there was no other interest - unless folks thought it was just another broken watch.



Second was a map reader / magnifying glass. We were able to find others that are a match in terms of construction and size in every regard - but only in brass. Those were circa 1900. This one is made of solid silver and mother of pearl inlaid. The thumb screws and nuts are silver plated brass - we suspect for strength purposes. But rods, base, finale, and ring holding glass are solid silver. A cool aspect of this piece is a number of fingerprints that are part of the silver tarnish. And cleaning the piece would lose that feature so this gem stays as is. Whole piece weighs just under 1.2 kg and stands 14" tall.

 

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[billn1956]

How much did you have to give for them if you do not mind saying ? They are a really cool find.

 

[BayRockMan]

$10 for the altimeter, $100 for the magnifying glass. The asking price for the brass version magnifying glass we found was $250 from a dealer in NYC.

 

[diggummup]

Two very cool finds. I especially like the reading glass stand. Are there any identifying marks on it?
I'm familiar with K&E's slide rules as they are very collectible. I believe the barometric altimeter is a little newer than you suspect though. Keuffel and Esser wasn't founded until 1867 and then they only sold drawing and drafting supplies until the late 1870's early 1880's when they added surveying instruments to their sales line. They were incorporated in 1889. If you can find a serial number on it you can precisely date it here- Surveying Antiques - Dating Your Keuffel & Esser Survey Instruments

 

[BayRockMan]

I stand corrected. I checked the images of the old catalog and it's copyright 1887, not 1857. I still have my old K&E slide rule from many years ago.

No marks on on the reading glass stand. Same for the brass version we found with the dealer in NYC.