NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: C.Plath and SNO
From: Bill Morris
Date: 2009 Feb 4, 11:59 -0800
From: Bill Morris
Date: 2009 Feb 4, 11:59 -0800
On Feb 5, 4:14�am, alexwrote: > Dear List members, > I am interested in your opinion about these two sextants on e-bay: > 110344551156 > and 300290552493. Is this C.Plath a fake (or assembled of parts of > different sextants?) > > We already discussed this question several years ago (on the old > list). This seller > sold several such C. Plath sextants since then. It looks almost > completely like > an SNO-M, to the minute detail, including the box construction, > accessories etc. > The certificates of C. Plath are definitely fake; they look like > printed on a computer and filled with > nonsense. The only difference between this C. Plath and SNO-M is the > arm and the drum. > This is what puzzles me. > > I know this C. Plath seller, I bought several things from him in the > past and he makes an impression > of an honest person. He insists that his C. Plath's are genuine. One > possible explanation is that > those early SNO-M were made in Soviet Union on German machinery, and > they are really copies of > some C. Plath model. Or could the parts of these sextants be > interchangeable to such extent, that someone > attached a C.Plath arm with the drum to an SNO frame??? > > Alex. I think the war-time C Plaths and the SNO-Ms almost certainly are the same sextant except for the luminescent magnifier on the SNO-M. I believe the frames were literally cast in the same mould and machined on confiscated machinery in the Soviet sphere. There are other minor differences, but all the pressure die-cast parts including the frame are the same. The index arm on the SNO-M is an aluminium pressing whereas the C Plath had a flat plate. The question as to whether the C Plath up for sale is a faked conversion of a SNO-M is another matter. There are blank spaces available at the ends of a SNO-M limb to stamp numbers and logo. The index arm would have to be replaced as this is where the serial number is found on the SNO-M. In a wartime photograph of the sextant type in use, the index arm is in two parts, with the index arm expansion screwed on to a strip index arm. The certificate on the putative C Plath doesn't make a lot of sense as, although the serial numbers match, it is said to have a vernier reading to 6 " when there is no vernier on the instrument, and to have two telescopes, a x 7 and a x 1. Perhaps the latter was a sighting tube, but is there anywhere to house it? The micrometer drum is the same as on my SNO-M, except for the colour. It is my firm view that when you buy a SNO-M you get a C Plath in all but name and, for similar reasons, if you buy a SNO-T you get an early Freiberger Prazisionsmechanik trommelsextant with Zeiss optics . There is a blog about these USSR sextants on my website at www.sextantbook.com Bill Morris --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc To post, email NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---