NavList:

Indeed it is. I personnally did not wait and ordered from ken two sextants that are already on their way to Europe. JPP --- On Mon, 5/24/10, Christian Scheele <scheele@telkomsa.net> wrote: From: Christian Scheele <scheele@telkomsa.net> Subject: [NavList] Ken Gebhart's Mark IX A bubble sextant offer To: NavList@fer3.com Date: Monday, May 24, 2010, 10:10 AM A few days ago, making an enquiry in a thread entitled "Buying a Mark IX A bubble sextant", I opened a discussion on approaching the purchase of a sextant of this type. In response to my thread, Ken Gebhart made an offer to sell two bubble sextants to the list. If any list members are interested in this offer but have not responded accordingly because you think that I, having expressed an interest in buying an instrument of this type, ought to have the privilege of making the purchase, then please let me say that I would not feel comfortable about forestalling anyone's efforts in this way and that you should not feel obliged to defer your response to Ken's offer on my account. In my opinion, the offer is unambiguously directed at all list members. Christian Scheele ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Gebhart" <GEBHART@CELESTAIRE.COM> To: NavList@fer3.com Sent: Monday, May 17, 2010 4:13:03 AM GMT +02:00 Harare / Pretoria Subject: [NavList] Re: buying a Mark IX A bubble sextant Permit me to chime in here.  We (Celestaire) mentioned on this List 2 years ago, that we had a number of MK IXs that we were trying to find a home for.  We sold them for $50 each, which was mainly for digging them out, and packing them up, and including an instruction manual and other advice for overhaul.  They were sold "as is", and we sold about 30 of them to NavList members.  All of the mirrors were in pretty good shape, and most bubbles were too.  We are now down to mirrors that are blotched, and bubbles uncertain.  The blotched mirrors are still usable, but if you restore the sextant otherwise, you would probably want to re-silver the mirrors then.  They do not come with cases. Here's the deal.  We will supply two of the remaining (about 50) sextants for the same $50.  If you happen to be driving through Wichita, we will give them to you for FREE.  This is not meant to be a commercial pitch to the List (which I would never do).  I just can't bring myself to put them in the trash. Ken Gebhart On May 16, 2010, at 12:50 PM, jean-philippe planas wrote: Dear Christian, 260 GBP or so would more likely be the asking price of an excellent instrument, carried on the catalog of a commercial business (which includes sales taxes etc), freshly and professionnally fully overhauled, in as new condition, accurately calibrated on a specialised optical rig and ready to be legally used for navigation purposes on an airplane or ship, with a 1 or 2 year warranty, perfect case, accessories, certificate of calibration, users manuals etc. My advice is to avoid this deal, it's a rip off. No way this guy ever finds customers for his instruments at this price. JPP --- On Sun, 5/16/10, Christian Scheele < scheele@telkomsa.net > wrote: From: Christian Scheele < scheele@telkomsa.net > Subject: [NavList] Re: buying a Mark IX A bubble sextant To: NavList@fer3.com Date: Sunday, May 16, 2010, 6:46 AM Dear Paul, Jean-Philippe, Douglas and Ian, please allow me to collectively thank you for your helpful advice. I am negotiating the possible purchase of one or two Mark IX sextants. Buying a second model on offer would to my mind be an additional option should it might be necessary for me to cannibalise one in order to assemble one model which is complete in parts that can then be fully overhauled. The seller is in Durban and I live in Cape Town about 1000 miles away, so I am glad that you have put some hard and fast criteria at my fingertips with which I can probe these instruments from a distance. The seller, who claims not to be knowledgable in the Mark IX's use - I suspect that he mistook the total instrument error of 2,5 minutes error certified on the label  for 2,5 seconds - is asking for a price equivalent to GBP 260 for each. In view of what can be regarded more or less as a consensus over an acceptable price range for the Mark IX, at least as far as Navlist members who have commented on the subject in this and recent related threads, "astronomical" is the only word that I can find to describe this offer and I expect the deal to fall through. Of course it is very unlikely that the instrument will not need callibration. In any event, through your help I am now in the position to roughly assess the models over the phone. Thanks again to everyone who invested their expertise and time in my request, I'll let you know how things go. Christian Scheele