Scientific Instruments
Items relating to scientific history are a popular collecting area in which number of specialist dealers and auctioneers operate. The field overlaps into sectors such as antique tools, technology, medicine and maritime history.
Objects in this area that regularly appear on the market include microscopes, telescopes, optical devices, globes, sundials and astrolabes as well as dental, drawing and navigational instruments.

Quality is instrumental to value when it comes to science equipment
01 February 2021Theodolite and telescope made to high standards measure up in two salerooms

Superb British Smith & Beck microscope bought by US collector for £38,000 in Berkshire auction
21 December 2020Surviving records for the London instrument maker Smith & Beck state this superb microscope from the brass and glass era was purchased on September 2, 1853, by Francis Herbert Wenham (1824-1908) – the British engineer who became a key figure in the improvement of the microscope.

Pick of the week: Slide rule measures up at £11,000
05 October 2020The invention of the gauger’s slide rule in the 1680s is generally credited to one Thomas Everard of Southampton.

Sundial and moon sketch draw demand in Plauen auction
28 September 2020Mehlis (23% buyer’s premium) in Plauen held its first sale of the new season on August 28-29. There was lively bidding, with a high proportion of the bidders joining in by phone.

Object lesson from Wimbledon fair: glass eyes
07 September 2020Though the first human in-socket artificial eyes were created by Venetian glassmakers c.16th century, the earliest evidence of ocular prosthesis was found in a female burial plot in Shahr-I Sokhta, Iran – dating back to 2900-2800 BC.

A detailed look at microscopes and much more
08 June 2020Fine examples lead an array of scientific instruments and photographica at specialist sale

Machine exerts a strong influence
06 April 2020The Wimshurst influence machine, an electrostatic generator capable of creating high voltages, was developed between 1880-83 by British inventor James Wimshurst (1832-1903).
Specialist firm adopts ‘live but online’ auction selling model
06 January 2020Scientific instruments and photographica specialist Flints Auctions has opened new premises and is launching a fresh type of sale.

Pick of the week: No.1 microscope proves it’s still the best
28 October 2019The opening lot of Flints Auctions’ photographica and scientific instruments sale in Reading on October 18 was an exceptional Victorian microscope.

Fair sets sights on science
02 September 2019Dealer Peter Delehar brings an example of a pioneering protractor to the second edition of the Antique Scientific Instrument Fair.

Apollo 11 footage tops Sotheby’s space auction on 50th anniversary of moon landing
24 July 2019NASA videotape recordings of the Apollo 11 mission topped Sotheby’s Space Exploration Sale held on the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing.

Chinese Qing dynasty musical automaton clock – an amalgam of ingenuity and technical prowess – fetches over £1m at auction
24 June 2019A Chinese musical automaton clock sailed over the £1m mark when it came up for sale at the Drouot auction centre in Paris.

Thomas Mercer chronometer made in modern times doubles estimate in Gloucestershire
10 June 2019By the 1980s, Thomas Mercer of St Albans had made almost a third of all chronometers in history – including that used by Ernest Shackleton to navigate his men to Elephant Island and eventual rescue during the Trans-Arctic Expedition of 1914.

Chiswick Auctions offers chronometer with Titanic connection
10 June 2019During an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic in 1996, a marine chronometer made by JW Ray, Liverpool, was recovered and brought ashore.

Nodding magician looks to cast spell at Potter & Potter
10 June 2019This c.1900 French automaton is included in the next sale held by Chicago saleroom Potter & Potter specialist auction house of magic props and memorabilia.

The web shop window: 19th century pill-making machine
27 May 2019Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Antique "writing ball" typewriter designed by principal of institute for the deaf stars in German auction
21 May 2019There was not one single inventor of the typewriter.

Fine scrimshaw sells in Scarborough
18 February 2019Two fine examples of scrimshaw were eagerly contested at the David Duggleby (21% buyer’s premium inc VAT) Scarborough auction of maritime antiques and instruments.

Seven fabulous gadgets and machines to buy at auction
25 January 2019Contraptions from the past can be fascinating, whether designed to save time or entertain.

Flint strikes right technological notes
19 November 2018A c.1855-60 camera and a c.1930-40 high precision lens provided two star items at photographic and scientific auction house Flints’ (20% buyer’s premium) latest sale to attract worldwide attention.

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