19th Century Chinese (Hong Kong) Pocket Sundial with Compass in Original Lidded Case wrapped bark box wooden legs wrapped in paper

wooden legs wrapped in paper

of several antique math and geometry notebooks from a bookseller in England whose late husband collected them

and think it would be terrific filled with apples or hedge apples

but the combination of bright yellow paint

A small round hole and a little tearing along the bottom right edge of the back cover and little staining to the corresponding back of a couple final pages

19th Century Chinese (Hong Kong) Pocket Sundial with Compass in Original Lidded Case wrapped bark box wooden legs wrapped in paperI have an obsession with pocket sundials I love the very idea of them, a portable time teller in absence of a watch, with flip up blade at the ready to read the sun but this is only the second I've found. This one I believe is Chinese, and other similar examples I have found out there indicate specifically from Hong Kong, later 19th century, while it was under British rule. The brass angle (gnomon) can be rested flat to either side, then when ready to