Octant

E. & G. W. Blunt · mid 19th century

Octant with an ebony frame, reinforced brass index arm, and telescopic sight. The ivory scale is graduated every 20 minutes from -2° to +111° and read by vernier and tangent screw to single minutes of arc. The "E. & G. W. BLUNT, New York" inscription may indicate that it was made after 1857 when the Blunts began offering nautical instruments "of American manufacture," and before 1866 when the firm became Blunt & Nichols.