It has been over 1000 years since the first world globe was made, and since then many people fascinated by world geography have collected vintage world globes. However, globes are able to teach more than just geography; they can also teach history, both political and social, from around the world. The original globes were created to track the night sky. Adventurers primarily used these globes as tools of navigation since no one had mapped out land masses on a globe at that point.
Vintage World Globe
Since Ptolemy found the way to accurately map out a globe using coordinates to denote latitude and longitude, earning the title "father of geography" globe making has come a long way. Merely owning a globe back in the 18th century was enough to give a person status, because only the educated, wealthy, and sophisticated people were in possession of a world globe. To show off their status, some men even carried pocket globes with them on their travels.
A Globe features several parts such as the axis, the Analemma, the cartouche, and the base. The axis of a globe is the rod upon which the globe rotates. The cartouche, of utmost importance to collectors, is a label containing the manufacturer's information as well as the make and model of the globe. Although all globes have a base, it is preferable that the globe can be removed from that base in order to be more closely studied. The Analemma is a minute figure 8 style design, which is often found in the Pacific Ocean on a globe. This notes equinoxes, solstices, and allows the mean time to be set, as it takes the tilt of the Earth's axis into account.
There are different criteria that make a vintage globe valuable, such as the condition, beauty, uniqueness, and age. It must be in excellent condition to retain its full value, and not torn or scratched. Unique globes are more valuable for their rarity. Beauty factors into it because a globe that was made of fine material and placed on an attractive base is more valuable than an old tin globe. It can be difficult to tell the age of any globe, as they were rarely ever dated. However, there are ways to determine when a globe may have been created. One way to tell the manufacturing date of the globe is to check the globe itself for political name changes in various regions. For instance, if a globe says Persia rather than Iran, it is likely to have been made before 1935. Likewise, if it has Israel listed, it was created after Israel was named in 1948. In the United States, one can occasionally tell the age of the globe by whether it contains states like California, which was created in 1850, or if it separated South Dakota from North Dakota as was done in 1889.
The most prolific globe makers in America were in the Midwest, with Rand McNally and Replogle, in Chicago, and the George F. Cram Company from Indianapolis. Then Boston, and other places in the East stepped in and names like Charles Holbrook, C.S. Hammond, Franklin Globes, and Annin & Smith became known. In the UK, Greaves and Thomas are the sole commercial makers of globes now. However, in the 18th and 19th Centuries, James Ferguson, the Bardin family and the Cary family, as well as G.F. Cruchley made a number of globes. In Nuremburg at that time, Johann Bernard Bauer and family made globes. France had the Delamarche family, J. Forest and Girard, and Barrere & Thomas as premier globe makers in the 18th and 19th century. Later, in the 19th and 20th centuries, J. Felkl and Son were the leading European globe makers.
The list goes on, but regardless of the style or era of globes that interest any particular collector or dealer in fine vintage globes, the information one can find about them on the Internet is endless, and well worth a look.