TENNANTS’ (20/18.5/17.5% buyer’s premium) sale of Scientific and Musical Instruments, Cameras and Tools on February 17 included a rare brass altazimuth theodolite, signed by London instrument makers Heath and Wing. Estimated at just £300-400, it sold in its original box together with wooden tripod at £10,000.
This theodolite was probably made in the third quarter of the 18th century, its basic form deriving from the design that Thomas Heath had introduced as early as 1725.
A trade catalogue published in 1765 titled Mathematical, Philosophical, and Optical Instruments Made and Sold by Heath and Wing, describes similar instruments under the title ‘Theodolites of the latest Improvements by T Heath’.