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Re: Scope mounting on vernier sextant?
From: Henry Halboth
Date: 2013 Dec 11, 21:46 -0500

Bill Morris is absolutely correct. It was quite the usual thin for moderately priced sextants and octants to not be fitted with a rising piece. The pictured instrument probably sold for less than $50.00 when new and is quite similar to an octant that I purchased 2nd hand in 1943 for the grand sum of $35.00, which I still have today and which proved quite serviceable at sea. More importantly, check the arc cutting for damage and readability and check the operation of the tangent screw for smoothness, positive action, and distortion; the screw threads are prone to wear and/or damage. It was quite usual for instruments of that era to have a 15 second vernier as opposed to the later vintage 10 second, possibly double spaced, vernier.

Happy purchase,

Henry

On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 9:16 AM, Noell Wilson <noell_wilson@southwire.com> wrote:

I'm supposed to go Thursday to look at my "final" extant purchase - an old, full size, vernier sextant. So far almost everything in the photos checks out but I'm wondering about the scope mounting system. I don't see a rising piece or a method of adjusting the sight path of the scope - attached photos. I would have expected those two features on one of these works of art. The adjustable split mounting ring for the scope might be obscured by corrosion but I don't see any sort of rising piece. Were some of these old sextants made without these features, has there been a modification to this one, am I being offered the world's best reproduction, or am I missing something obvious in the photos and about to publicly embarrass myself? Regards, Noell ---------------------------------------------------------------- NavList message boards and member settings: www.fer3.com/NavList Members may optionally receive posts by email. To cancel email delivery, send a message to NoMail[at]fer3.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- Attached File: (Vernier-rising-piece.pdf: Open and save or View online) Attached File: (Vernier-scope-ring.pdf: Open and save or View online)
: http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx?i=125705

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