Pocket Sundial. An 18th century pocket orrery signed Sam Saunders Fecit

Sold for £1,150

Pocket Sundial. A Steel Equinoctial Pocket Sundial by Samuel Saunders, [London], mid-18th century, circular ring with inset hours ring on pins and partly rotating centre bridge (one screw missing) with month markings in Latin, the hours ring with roman numerals and simple arrowhead half hour markings, engraved 'Sam: Saunders Fecit', 5 cm diameter, some rubbing and no longer fitting to fold flat

(Qty: 1)

It has not been established which Samuel Saunders made this, there being three instrument makers by that name working in London in the first half of the 18th century. The serifs, and particularly the decorative serif on the lower stroke of 'S', for both engraved names may suggest that this was the work of the Samuel Saunders who was apprenticed to Jonathan Roberts in the Broderers' Company in 1699 and with John England in the Stationers' Company in 1703. He was freed by Patrimony in the Masons' Company in 1708 and died in 1743. See Maciej Lose, 'Samuel Saunders; A Study of a London Sundial Maker - Part 1', BSS Bulletin, Volume 24(i), March 2012, pp. 14-19; Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851, National Maritime Museum, 1995, p. 244.