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I'm interested in this item too and planned to bid on it. If I won the
bidding, I would take it apart, service it and put it together again
in a restored state. Then I would post detailed labelled photographs
for others to see. When tired of it, I would offer it to a museum for
what it cost me. I agree it would be a pity for it to rest in private
hands, undescribed and gathering dust. On the other hand, why should
North America have all the luck? People in out-of-the way places love
instruments too.

Bill.

On Nov 14, 11:12�am, "George Huxtable"  wrote:
> There seems to be significant interest in this, perhaps unique, instrument,
> first spotted by Bruce Hamilton.
>
> http://cgi.ebay.ca/ASTRONOMIC-CALCULATOR-SEXTANT-theodolite_W0QQitemZ...
>
> It would be a pity to miss that item, which has a couple of days to go
> yet before the auction ends, and it's still at just over $100.
>
> Purchased by our list, or a subset of it, we between us could squeeze a lot
> of value out of it, and then later donate it to an appropriate museum, such
> as Mystic Seaport or the Mariner's Museum at Newport News (details don't
> need deciding at this stage, just in-principle).
>
> IF (and it's a big if) we could quickly identify a list member who will
> volunteer to act as purchaser and custodian (if a bid succeeds), then I for
> one will offer to put in an equal share of the total cost up to a maximum of
> $100, if at least three others will do the same. It would be most convenient
> if the
> custodian happened to live within striking distance of the vendor, who is at
> Eden Prairie, MN, wherever the state of MN might be (Minnesota? Maine?), as
> it does seem a bit unfair to subject such a precious item to the tender
> mercies of the US postal service; but that might be unavoidable.
>
> What I would expect is that the custodian keeps it safely for, say, a few
> months, making any investigation himself as he sees fit, but most
> importantly, keeping �it available for members to inspect, respond to
> questions, and post photos to the list as requested. It would be best, I
> suggest, if we avoided transporting it about unnecessarily.
>
> Only if such a volunteer exists (and puts his hand up now) would this
> proposal work But if it did, it could give us a lot of fun.
>
> An alternative would be if a list member bought the instrument himself off
> his own bat, and then made the details avalable to the list. But wouldn't it
> be a pity if it vanished into other hands?
>
> George.
>
> contact George Huxtable, now at geo...@hux.me.uk
> or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
> or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
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