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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: bigwull on December 04, 2013, 05:19:21 pm
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Hi, all....Avril and i were at a village auction tonight,....and as it turned out...it was both funny and possibly profitable..The funny part was where i mistook the auctioneers description...of a "tray of odds".....for .."stair rods"....and bid on them...and ended up paying £10...for a tray of mixed porcelain pieces....one of which had Foreign stamped on the bottom...but above it was Bavaria...and a mark....the other piece is a little lidded pot, marked Royal Doulton....Indian Summer ......but for me the best buy of the night was this Surveyors Theodolite,....It comes with a wooden and metal Tri-pod, an original wooden box for holding the theodolite,,......Its marked on the side with the makers name and address,....all in Italic script,...and if i knew which icon to click it would be in Italics...
Bryson
60 Princess St,
Edinburgh
I then did a search on the maker and found this....I paid £34 for the instrument....and once i,ve cleaned it it will make a nice ornament for a bare corner of our lounge....
James M Bryson
Optician
Joined Photographic Society of Scotland (PSS) 1858
Remained a PSS Member until his death in 1868
60, Princes Street
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other pics
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very cool big wull
tell me--is the Theodolite something you knew by site? I had to look up what it meant...
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Very nice buys! ;D
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Yes,S,cube,I knew whenever i saw it, that it was at least 100 years old.....When i was 15,i worked as a "Chain Boy"....on a large building project,...a chain boys duties were,to carry the site engineers, Theodolite, and tri-pod, and measuring staff,...then set up the theodolite, ...he then held the measuring staff at various points around the site, whilst the surveyor looked through the theodolie....and recorded the levels,....The level I carried way back then was similar to this one, and my engineer told me then to be very careful with it as he had inherited it from his grandfather,.who lived in Edinburgh....When I turned 16 I started my joiners apprenticeship..... this Theodolite.that i,ve got ..is over 150 years old....its value is a good deal more than i paid for it.....and what i like about it is it was made in Edinburgh.....
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Is it not a type of telescope? I've never looked through one, but I've seem them being used. Does it give you skamatics?
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Robert, then James Mackay Bryson (1824-94 ) of Princes St, Edinburgh. That wonderful road near the station.
Generally used by surveyors, architects Greenacres
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nice bigwull I knew what it was the minute I looked at your photo!! My husband has one (not 150 years old )he uses often but here in the states we call it a transit. :D
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Nice finds!!!
I am just itching to go out sleuthing...but better refrain with Christmas coming up! However, if I did and found something...my family is always asking what I want!...
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again--very nice bigwull---seems you have lived a lot of lives...
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The terms probably depends on location, but I always called those instruments: "Dumpy Levels". They were designed to measure elevation, while "Theodolites / Transits" can measure both vertical and horizontal angles.
Regardless, it was an excellent purchase for that price.
http://www.antiquesurveying.com/dumpy_levels.htm (http://www.antiquesurveying.com/dumpy_levels.htm)
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I swear Wullie,, even when you screw up you come out ahead !! My luck should be that good !!
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HA, .... "Dumpy Levels", ..... never heard that term before now.
Where did it get the name "Dumpy" from, ...... cause it tells yu where to "dump the fill" to level things up to "grade"? ???
;D ;D ;D ... poor builders use a "line level" or water hose.
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some more pieces from the "stair rods"...aka tray of odds.... ;D the little cup and saucer has .."little Miss Moffat"on the saucer and "Mary Mary quite contrary on the cup...the other cups have Beatrix potter figures on them...all hand painted,...there, a few other pieces....one of which is free to a good home...its a comemorative mug of the Queens Coronation in 1953....i,ll even pay the postage to whoever says they want it....Europe excluded ;D
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I put the Theodolite on Ebay last week,..I kept the tripod as it is made of hardwood and the head is brass ,and i,m going to do a Dogaman with it,...the auction ended today and I got £47 for the level,+ postage,...which gives me ...£13 profit...and i,ve still got the tripod,..and have now fitted a brass lamp holder to the tripod and all we have to do now is buy a lampshade,...and the £10.odd that i receive will go towards a lampshade ..which means the tripod standard lamp cost us virtually nothing...
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Waiting to see the lamp !!