Figure 56.—Wooden instrument made by Jere Clough. In Streeter Collection of Weights and Measures, Yale University.
Figure 57.—Wooden surveying compass made by Andrew Newell (1749-1798) of Boston. It is made of mahogany, is 11-1/2 in. long, and has a diameter of 5 in. The engraved compass card is signed by Nathaniel Hurd, goldsmith, silversmith, and engraver of Boston. In collection of Yale University Art Gallery.
Andrew Newell
An instrument of considerable significance is another wooden surveyor's compass, in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. This compass (fig. 57) is made of rich brown San Domingo mahogany with sighting bars of boxwood. A mariner's card, set into the opening with a metal vernier scale, is in the usual form of the mariner's compass card of the 18th century; it is executed as a line engraving. A ship and the Boston harbor lighthouse are featured in the central medallion. On a riband encircling the medallion is the inscription "Made by ANDW. NEWELL East End of the MARKET BOSTON," Engraved in script at the southern tip of the star is the signature "N. Hurd Sct."
Relatively little is known about Andrew Newell (1749-1798) except that he was a maker of mathematical instruments. An entry in the first Boston directory, in 1789, listed "Andrew Newell, instrument maker, 61 State Street." The directory of 1796 mentioned Newell as having a shop on the "East side of the Market," the address that appears on the surveying compass.
Two years later the Boston directory listed Andrew Newell and Son, and in 1800 the listing included only the name of Joseph Newell, who may have been the son. Another mathematical instrument maker named Charles Newell may have been another son of Andrew Newell; his name does not appear in the city Directory until in the 19th century. An instrument with the signature "Newell & Son, Makers, East End of Faneuil Hall, Boston" is in the collection of the Bostonian Society.
An important feature of the Newell instrument is the fact that the engraver of the compass card was Nathaniel Hurd (1729-1777), the peer of goldsmiths and engravers of the colonial period. This compass card is a previously unrecorded example of Hurd's work, and constitutes a work of art, making the compass a historic scientific instrument.[111] The compass was presented to the Yale University Art Gallery by a Yale alumnus, Mr. Henry G. Schiff of New York City. No other examples have thus far been found.