Pocket compass sundial lid

Datec 1830

Object number00046753

NameLid

MediumWood, paper

DimensionsOverall: 12 mm, 7.82 g, 53 mm

ClassificationsTools and equipment

Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds

Terms

DescriptionThis lid belonged to a pocket compass sundial and was made by the Massachusetts watchmaker Tuxford circa 1830. This style of compass sundial was quite popular in the eighteenth century. HistoryPocket sundials were highly fashionable objects throughout the seventeenth century before the proliferation of clocks and pocket watches. Even in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries they were still favoured by many because they were more accurate in establishing true time, particularly at sea where mechanical timekeepers were unreliable. SignificanceThis pocket compass sundial lid belongs to a highly unusual sundial which lists 52 place-names, including a number in the Pacific discovered during Cook’s voyages, ranging from Botany Bay and Norfolk Island to O-why-hee and Nootka Sound.