Scientific Inst~ ument Society 2.:< 5 ~,'~:'; Bulletin March No. 64 2000 Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society ISSN0956-8271 For Table of Contents, see back cover President Gerard l'urner Vice-President Howard Dawes Honorary Committee Stuart Talbot, Chairman Gloria Cl|fton,.Secreta~. Jt~m Didcock, Treasurer Willem Hackmann, Editor James Stratton, Meetings Secreta~. Silke Ackermann Ron Bristow Simon Cheifetz Alexander Crum-Ewing Liba Tauh Trevor Waterman Membership and Administrative Matters The Executive Officer (Wg Cdr Geoffrey Bennett) 31 High Street Stanford in the Vale Fanngdon Tel: 01367 710223 Oxon SN7 8LH Fax: 01367 718963 e-mail: [email protected] See outside back cot~r for information on membershzp Editorial Matters Dr. Willem D. Hackrnann Museum of the History of Science Old Ashmolean Building ]'el: 01865 277282 (office) Broad Street Fax: 01865 277288 Oxford OXI 3AZ Tel" 01008 811110 (home) e-mail: [email protected] Society's Website http: / / www.sLs.org.uk Advertising See 'Summary of Advertising Services' panel elsewhere in this Bulletin. Further enquiries to the Executive Officer. Organization of Meetings Mr James Stratton 101 New Bond Street Tel: 020 7629 6602 I.x~ndon WIY 0AS Fax: 020 7495 3536 Typesetting and Printing Lahoflow Ltd 26-36 Wharfdale Road Tel: 020 7833 2344 King's Cross Fax: 020 7833 8150 London NI 9RY Price: £6 per ~sue, including back numbers where available. (Enquiries to the Executive Officer) The ScientificInstrument Society is Registered Charity No. 326733 :B The Scientific Insmunent Society 2000 i Editorial Solid Objects Viflual Reality 'To err is human but to really foul things up requtrt~ a computer' Farmers' Almanac for 1978 It u~d to be ~id that the Bulletin concentrated too much on early classical instruments. Our December 1999 'Millen- nium Issue' should truly have buried this old chestnut. We endeavour to cover all aspects of instrument history, from all perk,s, all types of instruments, and cover the interestof all parties from every source: private collectors, museums, dealers, auction houses, and increasingly, from the virtual space of the computer. Most of our material still comes from traditional sources, but astute readers will have observed that more and more 'www' addresses are appearing in these pages ever since Desmond Squire's 'Buying & Se]l!ngScientific [nstruments on the Internet, the Market Place feature of Bulletin, No. 57 (June 1998). However, we have hardly touched the surface of this new technology, nor can we yet fully appreciate the changes it will bring about. I suspect that not many t~giay would agree with the Farmers" Almanac for 1978. Computers have become an Fig.l Profi',,~,r loire North dela'ermy, the Fig.2 lerem~ Collins pr,.'~'ntmg a .,;el of indispen~hle part of our culture and of Society's sez~enth Annncr~ Lecture at the h,und CSK Catah~ues to Hou~rd Dawes at everyday life. Societies of Antiquaries. the SIS Committee's dinner on 30th No, win- bet at the Tr,nwllers" Club. The virtual auctioneers Ebay at www.e- bav.com cover an enormous range of ct,[lectibles They are so successful that the deadline there ts a tremendous rush Lecture brought the year to a climactic they now have an English site as well. and bids can rise steeply. This is close. Professor John North's scholarly ~t'h .~pecialist collector groups and the especially so for desirable items and lecture on the astrolabe and the imagli~- traditional auction houses are carefully some 'virtual bidders' have become past tion (Fig. 1) is reproduced in this issue. He fidlowing the progrt~s of Ebay and other masters at this game of ne~'es. Com- was awarded the Society's medal at the virtual auctioneers. In fact, Auction- bined with the fact that these deadlines SIS Committee's dinner held after the Watch.corn claims that it now monitors often occur at the dead of night or in the lecture. The dinner was also the opportu- over three hundred auction sites. It has small hours of the morning, bidding on nity at which Jeremy Colhns of Christie's al,~ become the fashion for any ~lf- the lnternet can not only be bad for the presented a set of Ix~und South Ken.sing- rt~pecting society or collector-group to blca~ pressure but aL~ cau~ sleepless ton Sales Catalogues to the ."k~cietv's have a personalized webpage. We can nights. One of the pleasures of a real archives. Howard Dawes, the Socie6"s find such pages devoted to anything that auction is that the object of the heart's Vice-President, received them on our is of mtert~t to somebody from Kitmaster desire can be handled and examined behalf (Fig. 2). These catalogues are not plastic toys and antique combs to Guin- carefully This is not possible with virtual only a remarkable record of the ve~' fine ness bottles and radios (.see for example auctions, and this can be a real drawback. instruments that have gone through the the experimental 'Collector Fair On-Line' A picture may be better than a thou~nd Christie's South Kensington ~lesroom in this issue). The SIS has, of course, words but they can certainly lie, and with since Jeremy Collins has been in charge, }oined the trend and now maintains an the potential of computer graphic en- but the,,' have aL,~ become an extremely effective website which has already hancement they can tell real whoppers. u~ful source of reformation for ~hola~ attracted new members. The large estab- Virtual aucti(~ns can be apleasant and collectors. Jeremy Collins's aim to lished auction hou~ are also retaliating pastime but have to be handledrealisti- have the mMruments meUculouslv re- (or staying in the market depending on cally, for when the items arrive on the corded by photograph and detaded your point of view) by developing their doorstep they have hen transformed descriptions, often written by specialists, own computer-auctions websites. How from the virtual to the solid. has been so successful that these auction this will afftwt the market and collecting catalogues have become the benchmark That 1999 continued to be an active )'ear of historical instruments in the future Ls to follow. for the Society is amply shown in these hard to predict. Will the collector of the ages. Two o{ the events are reported on mid-21" century still enjoy the pleasure of Addendum re by Peter de Clercq: the study after- browsing in well-stocked antique shops, noon on electroforming which t<~k place Two errors occurred m Paolo Brenni's or make discoveries in small local auc- at the British Museum on 29'" (.X't~er, paper in the previous Bulletin. The first tmns far from the metro~dis? Or will he and the XVill Scientific Instrument Sym- one should have been Sl~tted by the spent his time pushing computer buttons ~Sium in M(~cow and St Petersburg Editor, but because it was so obvious his and surfing virtual spaces? ~r ~m 20'~-25'h September. At the St eyes glazed over it. The name of this There are pitfalls when buying historical Petersburg Ob~rvatory delegates ~w famous designer of the electrostatic instruments via the internet. One finds ,~htti with instruments of which Sarah generator that bears his name is, of that there is often little bidding for a echner t~k some fine photographs. course, Van de Graaff and not Van de particular item for days until suddenly These form the subject otthis 'Cover Gram Furthermore, in note 35 the name during the last ten minutes or so before Story'. The Socie~'s 7" Annual Invitation should be Dr I_x~rente and not I_x~nente. Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument ~ciety No. b4 (2/I}0) Cover Story Art in the St Petersburg Observatory: Putti with Scientific Instruments Sara 5chechner Iht' }"llttl art' r,lilltt.d In htllr ',.t't,, on tilt. mh'rlor of the ~uPttla of the (Ib.-.t,r~a- tol~,, of tilt' I'~tl",".l,lll ,'\t,ldt'tll~, ol %~. It'llt t"~ ~.'~ Jlich ~'.,I,, t'",t,lbh,,jlt,t'l b', I't'tt'r tilt' t.rt.at m 172~ m %t I't'tt'r,,burg lht' ~urrt.nt btuldulg ~.l,, built m tht. 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