Lot 149

Attributed to Wolfgang Hager, Wolfenbüttel, 58 mm, 44 g, circa 1660
A rare box sundial with compass
Case: ivory, silver, brass.
Carved ivory case with screw-on lid. Base of box carries blued steel compass needle on mount under glass. Circular silver dial-plate with Arabic hour scale (4-12-8) set over compass, pierced for viewing the compass. The magnetic North is indicated by V shaped dots. Magnetic Declination about 2 degrees East. Spring loaded brass Gnomon with flower motifs, made for a Latitude of 52 degrees.
A similar ivory dial, however with a different dial-plate and gnomon system can be found in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, New Inv. Nr. AST0293.
Wolfgang Hager was born in 1602 in Steyr in Austria; in 1616 he began a six-year training with master watchmaker Daniel Scheyrer, a native of Augsburg. After his apprenticeship he worked with Scheyrer as a journeyman. Later Hager travelled to Landshut and Munich before eventually settling in Augsburg. Between 16 26 and 1634 he worked for Count Günther von Schwarzburg; around 1650 he presumably worked in Wolfenbüttel. Hager died 1674 in Arnstadt. His sons Michael Tobias and Wolfgang jun. also became well-known makers of timepieces.
References:
Hester Higton, Sundials at Greenwich, page. 73 and also:.
Günther Oestmann, Uhren und Instrumente der Familie Hager aus Wolfenbüttel und Braunschweig (Braunschweiger Werkstücke, 101). Braunschweig 1999.

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