RICHARD PATTEN & SON, BALTIMORE, SURVEYOR'S COMPASS, SERIAL NO. 7, MARKED TO THE U.S. CORPS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, IN ITS ORIGINAL FITTED CASE

RICHARD PATTEN & SON, BALTIMORE, SURVEYOR'S COMPASS, SERIAL NO. 7, MARKED TO THE U.S. CORPS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, IN ITS ORIGINAL FITTED CASE

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$2,950.00 ON HOLD

Quantity Available: 1

Item Code: 286-1490

An American surveyor's compass by Richard Patten & Son of Baltimore, Maryland, complete with its sight vanes and retained in its original fitted hardwood case, identified to the United States Corps of Topographical Engineers. The case is of dark-stained hardwood with dovetailed corners at the front, brass butt hinges, and a turned wood carrying handle mounted on iron staples across the front face. The lock is fitted with a circular brass escutcheon and retains its original key with trefoil bow. Let into the top of the lid is a circular brass plate, secured by a central screw and stamped in three lines: U.S. / T.E. / NO.7 — the United States, the Topographical Engineers, and the instrument's serial number.

The interior is lined throughout in tan napped woolen cloth, both in the lid and in the shaped well that receives the instrument. The compass is of brass with a silvered dial, the cardinal and intercardinal points engraved in the customary manner and the steel needle present over the pivot. The dial is signed at center for the maker with the Baltimore address. A set screw beneath the compass box secures the needle, lifting it clear of its pivot to protect the bearing in transit, and functions as it should. Both brass sight vanes are present, stowed in the case as issued.

MARKINGS

Brass plate, lid exterior: U.S. / T.E. / NO.7

Dial: Richard Patten & Son, Baltimore, Md.

MEASUREMENTS

Case approximately 14 1/2 inches long, 8 1/2 inches deep, and 4 3/4 inches high overall. Brass plate approximately 1 1/4 inches in diameter.

CONDITION

Good, with the honest wear of field service. The case retains an old surface with scattered scratches, scuffing and handling marks throughout, a darkened stain to the center of the lid, and a chip with associated loss to the wood at the left edge of the lid. The lock functions and the key turns. Joints are tight and the hinges are sound. The woolen lining is complete with expected soiling, nap loss and compression. The instrument shows a mellow untouched patina to the brass and light spotting and toning to the silvered dial.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Richard Patten (1792-1865) began in the instrument trade in New York, where he worked from 1813 until about 1840 at the Sign of the Compass Card, training a generation of American makers. He removed to Washington, D.C. in the early 1840s and took his son George into partnership as Richard Patten & Son, the firm working in Baltimore from about 1849 until 1860 and returning to Washington at the outbreak of the Civil War. A compass signed at the Baltimore address therefore dates to the decade before the war. The firm's own trade catalogue of the period, issued from No. 58 Baltimore Street, styles it "Manufacturers of Engineers' Instruments to the U.S. Government" and illustrates a vane compass of this form on its cover — the federal work was the house's principal business, and the present instrument is an example of it.

The Corps of Topographical Engineers existed as a separate branch of the United States Army from 1838 until March 1863, when it was merged into the Corps of Engineers. Its officers were responsible for the survey and mapping of the western territories, river and harbor improvement, the Pacific railroad surveys, and, during the Civil War, for reconnaissance and the preparation of campaign maps for the field armies. Instruments carrying the "U.S. T.E." mark are seldom encountered, the corps having been small and its separate existence brief. This is an identified, low-serial, government-marked engineering instrument of the immediate pre-war and war years, complete with its vanes and in its issue case.

Caption for the last image: Cover of the Richard Patten & Son trade catalogue, No. 58 Baltimore Street, Baltimore. Shown for reference; not included with this item.  [ss][ph:L]

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