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Globe, American, Specialty, Slated, Nystrom, 16-Inch Graphic Project Table Globe, Chicago, Early 1960s

$1,500

Graphic Project 16-inch Terrestrial Globe
A.J. Nystrom & Co., Chicago [attributed to]: c. Early 1960s
Metal sphere
24 inches high
$1,500

A 16-inch Graphic Project Globe attributed to the globe maker A.J. Nystrom. The large terrestrial metal table globe is set in an aluminum half meridian canted at 23.5 degrees, raised on a short shaped cylindrical stem resting on a slightly domed round aluminum base. The base has a round hole at one edge so the globe can alternatively be hung on the wall. The globe has very simple cartography with no place names — oceans and major bodies of water are blue and continents and other major land features are green outlined in yellow. This is by design so students studying geography can demonstrate their knowledge by labeling the globe with erasable chalk, and removable paint or clay. As such it is akin to a slated globe, though the surface of the Graphic Project Globe is applied by a special paint process.

Product description continues below.

Description

Degrees in longitude are indicated at the equator by vertical dash lines at 15-degree intervals and degree numbers at 30-degree intervals, all repeating once from 0 to 180 degrees. Degrees in latitude are indicated by horizontal dash lines and degree numbers at 15-degree intervals from 0 to 90 degrees above and below the equator. The globe does not have a maker’s name but is attributed to Nystrom based on other extant examples and ones shown in Nystrom school supply catalogs. It might have originally had an instruction label on the base with a Nystrom copyright notice.

Nystrom introduced the forerunner of this globe in its 1936 catalog with a similar design to the offered globe but with black land masses, described as follows:

The Graphic Project Globe embodies all of the new and advanced ideas in globe use. A radical departure from the old, conventional type of globe whose principal use is for reference, the Graphic Project Globe has no reference material but has unlimited possibilities for the child to do his own construction work. A nameless globe with a markable surface — it may be used for countless demonstrations and problems.

In their 1956 catalog, Nystrom illustrated a later model of the globe in 16-inch or 22-inch versions also with similar design to the offered globe but with brown land masses, described as follows:

The Graphic-Project Globe is a nameless metal globe with a markable surface —blue for water, brown for land. The Graphic-Project Globe is used as a construction base in geography, history, economics, or current events, and for learning map symbols. Here the child sees or adds only those political and physical names pertinent to the day’s lesson. A kit of marking materials, furnished free with each globe, contains a liberal supply of colored chalk, tempera, and modeling clay.

This offered globe is similar in style and coloration to the Graphic Project globe illustrated in the 1968 school supply catalog published by Nystrom —  with blue waters and green land masses — although the one in the 1968 catalog has a full rotating meridian. On this basis, it is probably a slightly earlier 1960s model. This type of globe was also produced in a similar time period starting in the 1920s by Denoyer-Geppert, a competing school supply company of Nystrom.

Read more about Nystrom in our Guide to Globe Makers.

Condition: Generally, very good, with light overall wear, minor abrasions, minor indentations. Still vastly better than most of these globes on the market which often have substantial dents, rust, abrasion, etc. 

Additional information

Maker Location

Maker

,

Globe Type

Terrestrial

Material

Mahogany

Style

Duncan Phyfe