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Author Topic: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?  (Read 551161 times)

Daniel Paul Cotts

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #360 on: October 22, 2015, 09:52:16 PM »

Marty, "159" not "154."
There's a stenciled number 1899 on the face of the box.
There's a small brass plate on the outside top of the box.
If the seller moves the sextant to allow viewing the arc adjacent to the F.E. Brandis inscription, I'm wondering if an additional number may be located there.
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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #361 on: October 22, 2015, 10:09:21 PM »

Marty, "159" not "154."

Yes, I see that now.

And I see that there pretty much cannot be a period after the "N", hence "NO." probably does stand for "Number" (well, "numero") rather than "Naval Observatory."

Still, it is bizarre.


LTM,

           Marty
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Daniel Paul Cotts

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #362 on: February 09, 2016, 02:17:46 AM »

New Brandis on eBay. Navy 2743
Number on box = 4902
Contacted seller asking if there is a number on the left end of the arc.
No paper in box.
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Martin X. Moleski, SJ

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #363 on: February 09, 2016, 04:50:22 AM »

New Brandis on eBay. Navy 2743
Number on box = 4902
Contacted seller asking if there is a number on the left end of the arc.
No paper in box.


Thanks, Daniel.


I've added it to the table.
LTM,

           Marty
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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #364 on: February 09, 2016, 07:05:15 AM »

I've taken to capturing the photos of the numbers since they often disappear after eBay auctions so here they are.

Would be good to get the seller to verify the number on the unit itself.  I'll hold off asking redundant questions.

Andrew
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Daniel Paul Cotts

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #365 on: February 09, 2016, 04:01:35 PM »

Seller replies the number on the sextant is 4440.
As before, number on box is 4902.
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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #366 on: April 13, 2016, 08:34:31 AM »

Another Brandis on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-F-E-Brandis-Sons-C0-Brooklyn-NY-Sextant-No-2553-/231911000669?

Apparently no box

Seller says it is SN# 2553, but I can't see that in any of the photos.  That would be a very early serial number in our list, perhaps pre WWI, hence no Navy number.

Oddly, seems that it has had the black paint mosly worn or stripped off, so the instrument is very brassy.

I've sent a question asking for a photo of the serial number, and inquiring about any other associated numbers or a box.

amck
« Last Edit: April 13, 2016, 08:41:58 AM by Andrew M McKenna »
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Bruce Thomas

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #367 on: April 13, 2016, 09:21:17 AM »

Seller says it is SN# 2553, but I can't see that in any of the photos.  That would be a very early serial number in our list, perhaps pre WWI, hence no Navy number.

I've scrolled the pictures available for the sextant on eBay, to the next-to-last. At the end of the arc I see "NO. 2553"

What's there looks inscribed to me (rather than stamped), although it's not the familiar inscribing of "NO" (for Naval Observatory) that we're used to. Whether that's "N O." or "NO." or "N.O." I can't make out.

Is it a Brandis serial number or a Navy number? It'll be interesting what you hear back from the seller.
LTM,

Bruce
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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #368 on: April 13, 2016, 09:42:06 AM »

Bruce

I missed that, thanks.  I think that the NO. is Number as in Brandis Serial Number. 

There are other sextants with the NO. with the serial number down thread, such as my post #359 about sextant #1899

Andrew
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Ric Gillespie

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #369 on: April 13, 2016, 10:54:07 AM »

This guy emailed me privately asking about the history of Brandis sextant said. I asked him if he had the box and I explained about maker's number versus N.O. Number.  I asked which number 2553 represented.  He thanked me for the information but didn't answer my questions.
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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #370 on: April 14, 2016, 10:06:43 AM »

Photos of the serial number and the Brandis Mfgr mark have been added to this listing.

I believe the F.E. Brandis, Sons & Co. mark is a pre WWI marking for the company, and probably pre 1914.  Most of the sextants with USN marks say Brandis & Sons.  This consistent with the idea that the low serial number and lack of a USN number means this is a pre WWI sextant that never made it into the Navy inventory.

see attached.

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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #371 on: August 02, 2016, 03:19:27 PM »

Another Brandis on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sextant-Antique-Brandis-Sons-Precision-Instrument-Brooklyn-NY-Brass-WW1-era-/152190285976?

I've sent a question to the seller re any numbers to be found.

Andrew
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Bruce Thomas

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #372 on: August 03, 2016, 08:23:20 AM »

Another Brandis on eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sextant-Antique-Brandis-Sons-Precision-Instrument-Brooklyn-NY-Brass-WW1-era-/152190285976?

I've sent a question to the seller re any numbers to be found.

Andrew
The description of this sextant says it has two names engraved on its arc, presumably by its owner. One of the names is H. W. Hill.

Harry Wilbur Hill (1890-1971) was an Annapolis graduate who served in WWI. Later in his naval career he rose to the rank of Admiral. He served as navigator on the battleship USS Wyoming during WWI, and for a while, just after the end of WWI, as navigator on the battleship USS Arkansas.

A destroyer commissioned in 1979 was named for him. USS Harry W. Hill was decommissioned in 1998 and sunk in target practice in 2004.
LTM,

Bruce
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« Last Edit: August 03, 2016, 08:54:16 AM by Bruce Thomas »
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Andrew M McKenna

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #373 on: August 09, 2016, 12:47:14 PM »

So the seller of the unit on eBay indicated that the only numbers on this "sextant" are:

206C-145

Well, it turns out that this Brandis is an interesting and somewhat unusual instrument.  Something about it just didn't seem right and it took me a while to figure it out.  All the sextants we've seen up to now were held in the right hand and sighted through the tube mounted the right side (when viewed handle side down).  This one is to be held in the left hand and sited through the tube from the left.  When I studied the grip, I realized it was designed to be held in the left hand.  In addition, the arc was much smaller than sextants we've looked at, and it has various wires indicating that it utilized a light of some sort.

What we have here is a left handed Brandis aeronautical octant.

According to this website:
https://sextantbook.com/category/unusual-left-handed-sextant/

it is a model 206C, serial number 145 out of an estimated total of about 200 units made.  This one is missing the bubble telescope, and what we see is the sighting tube.  It is also missing the legs that allow it to be set down with the handle side up.

The same website dates #125 to 1931, so presumably #145 is somewhat later in date.

Compare the photos attached.  The third photo shows a right handed Brandis sextant with the bubble telescope for comparison.

Doesn't really help us move the thread forward, but it is interesting to me that new information about the Brandis product line (and Amelia's flight in general) keeps popping up.

Andrew
« Last Edit: August 09, 2016, 12:53:45 PM by Andrew M McKenna »
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Arthur Rypinski

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Re: Can you add to the list of sextant numbers?
« Reply #374 on: September 20, 2016, 08:25:51 AM »

Yet another Brandis Sextant on Ebay today:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1-Era-Brandis-Sons-Sextant-Complete-in-Box-Naval-Observatory-1919-NICE-/272382922128?
Maker's number as shown on collimation sheet is 5317, NO number on sextant bow and box is 4193, shown in photos.
Date of inspection by USNO:  April 2, 1919

adr
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