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Mike,
Thanks for the info.
If I understood correctly, "Simex" is out of business now.
(Do you know approximately when it went out of business?)
And you say that the actual manufacturer of these sextants was Tamaya.
The price of $300 seems indeed very low for a good sextant
in a good condition, especially for a Tamaya "Jupiter" with 3
telescopes!
Alex.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2005, Mike Burkes wrote:

> Hi Alex I will try and answer questions and any corrections, additions, etc. 
can be supplied by List members Joel Jacobs, Ken Gebhart of Celestaire,
> and others.
> a) The word " Simex" originates from Capt Svend T Simonsen
 founder of the defunct Coast Navigation School
 in Santa Barbara, Ca. and author of  "Coastwise and Blue Water Navigation" 
ISBN 0-13-809970-7. He essentially contracted with Tamaya to supply the 
sextants for the school.
> Highly resembles Tamaya "Jupiter".
> b) The shades are Polaroid filters from pg 241 of his book in that they are 
single units and have to be rotated to adjust for filtering and dispenses 
with the individual shade units. Also has a separate astigmatizer lens which 
transforms the image of a star into a streak of light which according to the 
book eliminates swinging the arc. I have not used the astigamatizer in that 
manner but sounds too  good to be true! That can be a subject of further 
discussion from the List along with Adm Davies' " Prism Level"!!
> c) Do not know metal composition but being "essentially a Tamaya" I would 
venture a guess a combination of metals.
> Hope this helps and the above folks can supply, correct, and/or amend the 
info. Please keep me informed and thanks!
> Mike Burkes
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Alexandre Eremenko
>   To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
>   Sent: Monday, February 21, 2005 9:34 AM
>   Subject: Re: eBay item 7302517075 (Ends Feb-27-05 13:01:56 PST) - Sextant Simex Mariner Japanese
>
>
>   Looks interesting indeed,
>   Could you explain me:
>   a) What is "Simex" and how is it related to Tamaya?
>   b) What these unusual shades are? They look very
>   different from the "standard" 3+4 shades.
>   c) Is it aluminium, brass, or combined (like Tamayas)?
>   Thanks,
>   Alex.
>
>   On Mon, 21 Feb 2005, Mike Burkes wrote:
>
>   > Hi folks!
>   > Superb deal on a superb sextant! I have one and can attest to it's 
quality! Essentialy a Tamaya. Good scopes and filters!
>   > Thanks!
>   > Mike Burkes
>   > http://cgi.msn.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=37971&item=7302517075&rd=1
>

   

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