France Archives - Page 12 of 53

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ELEGANT FOLDING RULE by SAUTOUT-CHOIZY, ca.1690 A 3 3/8” (8.6 cm); 6 3/8” (17.2 cm) fully open folding brass rule with decoratively shaped joint-reinforcement element and alignment pin, hand-graved Demi pied du Roy and Lignes, and reading to 6 pouces. The pouce is a French inch slightly longer than the English inch. The joint is elegantly engraved on each face with a traditional flower-and-leaf design, shaded to give it depth. Mint condition. Pierre Sautout-Choizy (active 1682 – d 1714) at Quai de l’Horloge à Read More...

06 Mar

Late 17Th Century Surveying Compass with four Pinnules Signed HAYE A PARIS

By Antiques Le Saint Georges

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“Four pinnules, each with a slot, are attached to the compass shelf, which is mounted on a knee stand (and engraved with the signature); two of the stands can be folded down laterally. In the middle, the compass has a central rosette and a sixteen-way compass rose on its base, with a fleur-de-lis in the north, the French names of the four cardinal points and the initials of the four collaterals; a 360-degree scale surrounds the compass rose on Read More...

02 Mar

Equinoxial Brass Sundial rare signed Lasnier aux 2 Globes Paris C. 1735 in original leather case.

By Antiques Le Saint Georges

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Equinoxial Brass Sundial rare signed Lasnier aux 2 Globes Paris C. 1735 in original leather case. Octogonal base plate containing a compass, with hinged latitude arm and a hinged hour-ring. Signed Lasnier au 2 Globes Read More...

28 Feb

Rare Miniature Travel Reflecting Telescope C.1740

By Antiques Le Saint Georges

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Rare Miniature travel Reflecting telescope C.1740. Beautiful Gregorian telescope mounted on a tripod base. In the main tube, a first steel mirror receives light (the image) which is then reflected and focused towards a second, smaller concave mirror. It is this image which is observed at the other end of the tube. An endless screw, installed along the tube, makes it possible to improve sharpness and vary the distance between the two mirrors. The first model of Gregorian telescope was built in Read More...

28 Feb

A French Copernican armillary sphere, c. 1890

By Van Leest Antiques

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A French Copernican hand rotating armillary sphere of the of circa 1890. Arising from an ebonized wooden stand with rotating planets around the sun. Eleven rotating celestial bodies are depicted including the Sun, Venus, Mercurius, Earth, Moon, Mars, Vesta, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. At the centre the sun as a metal ball, the earth as a miniature papier mâche globe and the moon as a white bone globe. The earth can be rotated by hand and the remaining planets Read More...

25 Feb

A large pair of dividers in brass and steel, 17th century

By Le Zograscope

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A fine and large pair of dividers in brass and steel measuring 15,7cm lenght. the instrument is not signed but from the 17th century or circa 1700. Very good condition. Read More...

24 Feb

TWELVE PLATES FROM THE MAGNIFICENT BILORAT AND MORA TRADE CATALOGUE

By TESSERACT

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Eighteen Square Feet of Marvelous Prints, French, c. 1860’s. Each large plate measures approximately 12″ x 18″ (30 x 46 cm), mounted on card 16-1/2″ x 22-1/2″. The plates are engraved and lithographed by Willaeys, and printed by Leroy at 66 r. des Marais in Paris. They are colored and preserved with a wonderful freshness, depicting a wide range of electric devices including hand-cranked and liquid-battery-powered electro-medical devices (with one known as the “American apparatus”), galvanoplasty and telegraph instruments, Read More...

20 Feb

C. 1850 Traube’s Pleximeter

By M and R Gordon

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A very good example of Traube’s pleximeter with scale. The body is bone and the hinged wings (aka: ears) are German silver with floral decoration. Length as shown in first image: 3.25″ (8 cm). A couple of rock-solid hairlines but overall in nice condition. The first image most closely captures the color of the bone. The London Science Museum has a similar example in its collection–see link below: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co92098/pleximeter-by-charriere-of-paris Read More...

20 Feb

SITTLER’S CODE BOOK

By TESSERACT

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Public Permitted to Telegraph Coded Phrases! French, published 1885, entitled Dictionnaire Abréviatif Chiffré. Bound in maroon fabric, 4-3/4″ x 7-3/4″ (12 x 20 cm), the book has 100 pages, each with 100 numbered words and phrases arranged alphabetically throughout, plus three pages of instructions, enabling “Correspondence Secrète.” Condition is good, the last few pages coming loose. This “7th edition” explains that all editions are the same, also that a French law of 13 June 1866 permitted the public to correspond Read More...

15 Feb

Compound microscope with achromatic lenses by Buron, 1840-45

By Le Zograscope

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[BURON (Noël), attributed to]. Compound microscope with achromatic lenses, unsigned, Paris, circa 1840-45. Brass, steel, glass, mahogany and purple velvet; box: 26x15x9cm. French achromatic microscope unsigned but attributable to the work of the engineer-optician Noël Buron. He succeeded his father in 1818 and remarkably developed the family business, becoming one of the main French manufacturers of scientific instruments from the 1830s to the 1850s. Very few instruments bearing his signature are known. Buron’s business model was based on export, particularly to Read More...

10 Feb

THE “TOURNIQUET HYDRALIQUE” — A DEMONSTRATION WATER MOTOR

By TESSERACT

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The Beauty of Water Power, probably French, c. third quarter 18th century, this a remarkable example of Revolutionary design, with fine painted images of water scenes. The device stands 23-1/4″ (59 cm) in overall height, and 20″ (51 cm) across. The base and framework are constructed of beautifully grained hardwood, perhaps French walnut. The frame supports a rotatable cone shaped as a quiver full of arrows, and a lower 12″ (30 cm) diameter pan, both made of sheet steel Read More...

06 Feb

Jules Cloquet print head cross section 1825

By Van Leest Antiques

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Hand coloured anatomical print no. 181 of a cross section of the head. from Jules Cloquet’s Manuel d’anatomie descriptive du corps humain of 1825 from volume 2 (of 4 volumes). The print depicts a cross section of the left side of a man’s head, on which the back of the septum of the nasal cavities has been removed, so as to show the inner surface of the pituitary membrane which lines this septum on the left side, and to Read More...