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Alex,

I'll wade in a bit by saying that the second one is definitely a C.Plath
U-boat sextant from WWII.

The first....well the frame and index knob look like a WWII Kriegsmarine
Plath design but I cannot tell from the hazy photos if they are the genuine
article or a cheap knock off. The index arm (with the ridge down the centre
of the arm) looks similar to the ones on the US Navy Mk 3.

It is possible that the CCCP Navy sextant was cobbled together from other
sextants although I cannot be sure.

Robert


----- Original Message -----
From: "Alexandre E Eremenko" 
To: "NavList" 
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 6:32 PM
Subject: [NavList 7254] Re: C.Plath and SNO




Dear Engineer,

Thanks for your interesting reply. Let me add few comments
and questions.

1. It is hard to understand how could SNO-M be produced
on confiscated machinery. C. Plath was made in Hamburg.
Hamburg never was in the Soviet occupation zone.
It is true that they took some Freiberger machinery and
developed SNO-T as a Friberger clone, but there is a lot
of difference between Freiberger and SNO-T, even the
telescope fork does not match.

If SNO-M is indeed a C. Plath clone,
it was probably licensed
from the Gremans in 1930-s when the Soviets imported a lot
of technology from Germany.
Do you know when production of SNO-T started?

The machinery taken by reparations could
arrive only in 1945.

2. I have pictures of several C. Plaths of this type from
the same seller. All certificates look like computer-printed
forms filled with nonsense, the certificates are definitely
fake. But on the sextants themselves,
I am still inclined to think that
they are likely made by adding C. Plath arms to the SNO
frames.



Alex.

On Wed, 4 Feb 2009, engineer wrote:

>
>
>
> On Feb 5, 4:14 am, alex  wrote:
> > 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
>
> >
>
>







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