GUEST: I inherited it from my grandfather in the 1970s.

None of us had seen it before he passed away, so we don't know a lot about the history.

It's a compass, has a flip-up sundial on it.

It was made in Paris, and on the back of it has the different cities in Paris and Europe, and, and how to find them on the compass.

So we think it probably is, uh, my great-great-grandfather came over to the U., the U.S. from France in the early 1800s, and so we assume it probably came down through the family, but he never told us anything about it.

APPRAISER: I would describe it as a, as a sundial that has a compass for a very important job of helping you calibrate sort of where y, where you are, um, so you'll know what time it is.

You're right, it was made in Paris, and I'd say probably in the late, uh, 1600s, early 1700s.

What you would do is, to use the compass to calibrate for north, and then you'd be able to tell what time it was, with the markings on the back being the popular cities in Europe with their latitudes, to be able to know what time it is wherever you were.

Because it's a, a pocket size, you would carry it with you.

So these were something that were almost as common as the phones we have in our pocket today, um, back in the time period.

So you have the, the gnomon here, um, which, again, which is what's, casts the shadow.

So if you're on a, a day like today, that's pretty cloudy, or at night they obviously were not so useful.

(chuckles) Um...

Uh, but they were really, you know, what people did, of all different types ...of sort of socioeconomic classes, uh, whether they were merchants, um, you know, scholars traveling between locations, people involved in commerce.

So you've got these sort of a nice, these sort of enameled, um, chapters here.

The back is all engraved, and it has the, the name of the maker here, uh, Chapotot, uh, Paris, who I haven't been able to find out much about.

But this form itself is referred to as a Butterfield form.

Michael Butterfield, a British, um, watchmaker,was in Paris, and, uh, sort of designed this octagonal style in the 1680s.

And it's believed that a lot of these other, uh, makers sort of copied that popular design-- it's brass.

What's nice, too, is that this, this case is made out of, uh, sharkskin or, or shagreen.

It has sort of a waterproof, um, quality to it...

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: ...coming from the sea, um...

GUEST: I didn't know that- that's interesting.

APPRAISER: And it's just a nice ta, feel, sort of tactile feel.

While they are, um, good survivors, the values themselves are not astronomical.

GUEST: Right, right.

APPRAISER: Um...

If you were, um, looking to insure, insure this today, you'd probably want to think about something in the $2,500 to $3,000 range.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: It's still useful...

GUEST: (laughs) APPRAISER: ...if you need, need to go on a European adventure.

GUEST: I think so-- that'd be a good reason to take it.

My favorite part about it is the flip-up sundial.

APPRAISER: Yes, uh-huh.

GUEST: I just think that's so totally cool.

(both chuckling)