A remarkable and intricately designed Presentation Instrument Station, this piece is exceptional for its artistic workmanship from France. Built upon a capstan of Blued Steel and Brass, a four-arch tower holds five instrument faces, vertically two clocks opposite each other with an aneroid barometer and a mercury thermometer between the pair, and the papercard compass dial set under glass in the instrument’s tabletop face. The reaumer-centigrade comparison scale of the thermometer indicates at least some of the instruments were made circa 1780. Beneath, the outside design of the capstan is dressed with a fair amount of rope made of brass with a fouled anchor, a lifeboat davit and block,and a life preserver ring. An interior key-wind motor rotates the upper instrument tower atop the capstan base in a clockwise direction with daily winding.

The instrument was presented to the “Italian National Society” by Annibale Blosi on April 17, 1887. Blosi, an Italian doctor with societal and business connections to the Italian settlements in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An exceptionally nice looking combination of instruments and marine-themed artistry.