The majority of globes are three dimensional models of the earth, but, they can also represent any celestial body. The earliest surviving globe was made by Martin Behaim in 1492 but it is believed that globes have been used since antiquity. Strabo (63/64BCE-24CE) reported that Crates of Mallos had a globe of the equivalent of 10 feet in diameter. Reference: Whipple Museum.
Below are some examples and price guides of antique globes including “A New Globe of the Earth” by N Lane and a William IV globe by W. & T. M. Bardin.
A Nicholas Lane 2 3/4-inch Pocket Globe, English, circa 1776,
the cartouche printed A New Globe of the EARTH by N.Lane, outside the cartouche printed 1776 Prockter fc, the sphere with twelve printed gores, hand coloured and detailing Anson’s and Captain Cook’s tracks, Tasmania is labelled Dimes Land and is attached to mainland Australia and California is represented as a peninsula, in fish skin covered case with inner hemisphere applied with two sets of twelve half gores printed with the celestial globe,
3in (7.5cm) diameter in case
Sold for £5,100 inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2022
A WILLIAM IV TABLE GLOBE
G. & J. CARY, 1836
Made up of two sets of twelve hand-coloured engraved half-gores, with graduated equatorial ecliptic and equinoctial colure, titular cartouche: CARY’S NEW TERRESTRIAL GLOBE DELINEATED From the best Authorities extant : Exhibiting the late Discoveries towards the NORTH POLE, and every improvement in Geography to the present Time. LONDON: Made & Sold by G.&J. CARY, 86 St. Jame’s Street Jany. 1. 1836. The oceans with an analemma, winds, numerous explorers’ tracks, the continents with nation states shaded, North America showing the territories of numerous indigenous tribes, Alaska shown as Russian America, California labelled Unexplored Countries and New Albion, Africa with traders’ routes and some detail on tribes. Fitted with engraved brass hour dial and graduated brass meridian ring, hand-coloured engraved paper horizon, on a mahogany stand with three cabriole legs and pad feet.
241⁄2 x 181⁄2 x 181⁄2in. (62 x 47 x 47cm.)
Sold for GBP 3,250 at Christie’s in 2021
[TERRESTRIAL GLOBE] BERTAUX, EMILE. Globe Terrestre d’apres les Decouvertes les Plus Recentes.
Paris: Emile Bertraux, [circa 1870]. Diameter is approximately 19 1/2 inches (49.5 cm) and the total height with the stand is 42 1/2 inches (108 cm); globe consists of twelve hand-colored lithographed paper gores and two calottes pasted to a plaster and wood sphere; the globe’s graduated brass meridian circle is set within a later stand consisting of a wooden horizon ring with a printed paper surface showing zodiac symbols, wind directions and a calendar with months; wood stretchers with acorn finials, supported by three turned wooden legs with metal casters; legs with a y-shaped stretcher centered by a circular compass, with a printed paper dial under glass. Globe with small nicks, scratches, losses and restorations, hand color toned, printed paper over horizon ring is a later reproduction with a few cracks and chips to the edges.
A fine and highly detailed French terrestrial library globe showing the earth’s geography as it was mapped in the late nineteenth century. The globe includes the oceans’ major currents, the declination of the sun, color-coded European colonial possessions, the locations of railway tracks, telegraph lines, and ocean liner routes, as well as the tracks of various explorers, including Columbus, Cook, Vancouver, D’Urville, and Freycinet, among others.
Sold for $5,040 (includes buyer’s premium) in 2022
A large American terrestrial library globe with walnut stand, Williams-Pridham/ W & A.K. Johnston
Sold for €2,200 at Rob Michiels Auctions in 2022
A William IV 18-inch terrestrial globe by W. & T. M. Bardin
dated 1836
with dedication ‘To the Rt Honourable, SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BART. K.B. President of the Royal Society, This New British Terrestrial Globe, containing all the latest Discoveries and Communications from the most correct and authentic Observations and Surveys to the year 1836, By Captn Cook and more recent Navigators engraved from most accurate drawings by Mr Arrowsmith, Geographer, Is respectfully Dedicated by his most obedient Servants W. & T. M. Bardin’ and inscribed below ‘Manufactured by S S Edkins Son in Law & Successor to the late T M Bardin, Salisbury Square, London’, set in a brass meridian and with hand-coloured printed horizon on a turned mahogany tripod stand with compass stretcher
approx. 110cm. high; 3ft. 7 1/4 in.
Sold for 16,380 GBP at Sotheby’s in 2021
