A "Grand Sohlberg" celestial globe

SWEDISH, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Details

A "Grand Sohlberg" celestial globe
Swedish, late 19th century
the 9-inch diameter glass celestial sphere engraved on the outside with the lines of latitude and longitude and the tropic and polar circles, the equatorial graduated in degrees and hours, with applied steel ecliptic band, stars applied in paint to the glass sphere, the interior with a brass rod for the polar axis, at the centre a miniature terrestrial globe painted with lines of longitude and latitude and coloured continents, with brass mountings at either end, at the South Pole two knurled turning knobs, one for the earth with graduations in hours 1-12 and one for the sphere itself with graduations 1-24, held in a semi-circular gilt and black-painted iron mounting, swiveling on the horizontal axis to move an index against a vertically-mounted brass circle, graduated in 0°-90° in four quadrants, raised on an elegant curved iron arm, the black ground with gilt-painted foliate decoration, to a concave triform tripod base, with splayed cast-iron legs, with a brass plaque affixed SOHLBERG HIMMELSGLOB ÖLLERS & CNI STOCKHOLM No50 TILLVERKAD AF
21in. (53cm.) high

Lot Essay

A very fine and unusual celestial globe issued in Stockholm for academic and institutional use, originally priced at 118 Kr (of which the government paid 20). The globe was designed to be half-filled with ink or litmus coloured water, to show the selected regions horizon; the water could be drained and replaced through the valves. This example is the last of 50 made.

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