Rare Celestial And Terrestrial Pocket Globe Sells For £18,800 In Peter Wilson Auction

The young auctioneer was ecstatic. He’d just sold the object illustrated here for a cool £16,000 on behalf of a client from Crewe who didn’t know he owned it. The rare and early celestial and terrestrial pocket globe – consider it a precursor (by about four centuries) of the sat-nav – was “found” by the auctioneer, Chris Large of Nantwich, Cheshire auctioneers Peter Wilson, in the bottom of one of 16 boxes of otherwise unloved and unwanted bric-a-brac from the man’s parents’ home. When told of the magnitude of the winning bid, the owner was naturally enough, “over the moon”. The auctioneer was happy too. “Something like this always cheers you up and makes you realise why you enjoy the job so much,” he said.

Less than three inches in diameter, the globe was concealed inside what was otherwise a dirty green-coloured outer case of the same shape that looked like it would have been more at home in a game of skittles. However, when the hinged outer case was opened, the colours of the globe nestling inside were almost as bright and vivid as they were on the day it was made. On the inside of the outer case, protected from sunlight and damage, was a "map" of the heavens. It was quite delightful. Not bad when you consider that it dated from 1710.

Clearly the globe was an early example. Its 12 hand-coloured printed “gores” – the term for the pieces of vellum covering its surfaces illustrating the various land masses – showed

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