Catalog Archive
Auction 152, Lot 50

"[10.5 Inch Globe] Cram's Universal Terrestrial Globe", Cram, George F. & Company

Subject: Globes

Period: 1950 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Printed Color

Size:
15.5 x 15 inches
39.4 x 38.1 cm
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George Franklin Cram was a civil war veteran who marched with Sherman prior to his career as a map publisher. In 1867, George F. Cram and his uncle, Rufus Blanchard, founded the company Blanchard & Cram in Evanston, IL. The company manufactured and sold maps and atlases. Cram became the sole owner two years later and renamed it the George F. Cram Company. They sold a wide variety of atlases including the popular Unrivaled Atlas of the World which was printed continuously from the 1880s to 1952. In 1921, George Cram sold his business to one of his largest customers, E.A. Peterson of the National Map Company. The company is to this day producing quality maps and globes.

This attractive terrestrial desk globe is constructed with 24 lithograph, coated paper gores over pasteboard. Raised on an offset central axis mounted on a single short, angled metal pillar held by a round metal stand. The oceans are finished in a bluish-green color with the locations of the Prime Meridian and the International Date Line shown. The names and direction of the currents of all the oceans and seas are in white. This example, with a time dial at the North Pole, shows Indochina, Manchuria, Israel and Thailand as well as a unified Korea and Germany. The Sargasso Sea is prominently displayed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, and an analemma is located in the South Pacific. Notations at the South Pole state the years and methods of travel for individuals who first explored those regions. The simple title cartouche located in the Indian Ocean indicates this globe is from catalog No. 105.

References:

Condition: B+

There are a few small cracks and abrasions to the gores with a tiny gap along the equator where the globe halves were assembled. Ring and base are very good.

Estimate: $140 - $170

Sold for: $80

Closed on 2/18/2015

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