Contents

Find out what sort of prices you can expect with the market reports.

Read more about these popular compasses in the article on WWI Pocket watch compasses.

Intrigued to know what all that compass jargon means.

In my view Singer's Patent was an iconic design of the 1860's.  So who was Singer?

World War 1 prismatic compasses prove very popular at auction, but what were their origins?

How compasses were a few hundred years ago

Books on compasses that are invaluable reference material

And finally some useful links to compass sites around the world.

Issue Number 19

How lucky we are, the first quarter to 2010 saw the publication of "Compass Chronicles" by Kornelia Takacs quickly followed in the second quarter by Paul Crespel's Second Edition of his excellent book "Trade Mark London".  This is the definitive story of Francis Barker and Son, Compass and Scientific Instrument Maker and if you are serious about compass collecting another essential reference source.  This second edition is only available in CD format from the Trade Mark London website. There are reviews of both these books in the Book Review section.

The second quarter to 2010 saw a downward trend in volumes of compasses sold whilst the average prices achieved remained fairly level compared to the last quarter.  Maybe many of those attic cupboards are now bare!

The magnetic properties of ferrous materials have been known about for well over two thousand years.  Just like the wheel no one really knows who or precisely when the compass was invented.  My own personal favourite contender for devising the compass is the Chinese scholar who wrote on a wide variety of topics including mathematics, music, astronomy, calendars, cartography, geology, optics and medicine - Shen Kua (1031-1095). 

In 1086AD he wrote about his invention, describing the suspension of an iron needle on a thread after it had been magnetised with a lodestone.   For me the practical engineering issues he faced in cartography and as a government official responsible for large engineering projects would have been the ideal breeding ground to devise a solution to establishing direction.  There was, at that time a lot of mysticism surrounding magnetism and so it seems highly likely that someone with a  strong engineering background, such as Shen Kua's was more likely to find a means of harnessing the magnetic effect rather than concern himself with the theory.  However, it is a device that is still manufactured in its thousands and is in regular use today. 

Not only has the compass  made our lives a lot safer but today is still an essential instrument.  It continues to be a constant source of fascination and interest to many people.  Compass use spans everything from the toy and novelty type device to precise scientific and navigational instrument.  Do a search on the internet for ‘compass’ and you will regularly identify hundreds of items for sale. 

Where do all these compasses go once used, who knows?    However a very few end up in my collection.  A majority are invariably well used and yet still work, which I think is a tribute to those who designed and made them.  They have frequently survived wars and everyday use, and many at, 100 plus years of age, are still useable today.

I have been collecting compasses for the last few years and this website is intended to share the research and information I gather.  My collection is currently predominately English/European, but I am now developing a much broader global collection.

I prefer to enter into correspondence via my own compasscollector blog or email.  It is from this correspondence that I will decide on the content for future articles.  So, please feel free to send me your comments, ideas, feedback and questions.

My own collection spans from about the mid 18th century to date and generally I only collect compasses that can be carried around by an individual.  There are inevitably one or two exceptions to this rule though.

I track the market for the more common compasses in terms of prices paid and volumes sold and this material is included on the market report page.  This takes up a fair bit of time so I only update the reports quarterly.  The vast majority of data comes from the Internet since this makes the administration of the tracking process easier.

In addition, I continue to amass a large amount of research material which I share with others.  Equally I would welcome any information you can provide on the production of compasses.

I hope you find this site useful and helpful and please feel free to contact me with your comments or ideas for an article for me to publish.

Finally I want to thank all those who contact me about their compasses and with comments on this site, please keep them coming the feedback is invaluable.

Thankyou for your continued support and please keep sending the questions and details about your compasses.

Chris Cole

Want to be listed, please send me details and I will consider listing you?

Any comments or Information please contact me via my blog or my Email

Blog address - the compasscollector.blogspot.com

Email - chris.cole@compasscollector.com

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