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Oakes Compass
Oakes Compass

Globes, Specialty, Printed Designs, Compass, John Oakes, New York, mid 19th Century

This globe is currently on reserve among numerous extremely fine and rare American globes to be sold as a single collection. Meanwhile it has been placed here in our American Globe Guide as a service for researchers and collectors.

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John Oakes (1818-1910)
Compass Rose (Dial) Designs
New York: 2nd Half 19th Century
Lithograph, uncolored
13.75 x 14 inches, overall
6.5 inches diameter, each compass

An exceptionally rare and unusual surviving example of a 19th-century compass rose print, featuring four identical individual compass dial cards arranged on a single uncut sheet. Printed in contrasting black and white with intricate detailing. North is marked by an ornate fleur-de-lys, while East features the distinctive “decorated east” motif, typically found on pre-1870s compass designs. This sheet was likely intended to be cut and mounted inside compasses (enough for four), making this intact version particularly scarce. In mounting, they would most likely be added to a circular wooden frame with molded edge, requiring the additional of a magnetized needle, and a glass bezel in the molding to protect it. Some American floor globes employ a compass as this type in the stretcher, though based on extant examples it is unlikely that the Oakes compass was made for this purpose.  Nonetheless, the sheet of four compasses is likely how other such compasses for floor globes were made, as first printed for cutting out followed by full assembly. Oakes also issued surveying compasses of brass, in which the compass was engraved directly into the brass.

Product description continues below.

Description

John Oakes (1818-1910) was a 19th century New York manufacturer and dealer of navigational equipment, such as compasses and charts. He was born at Bloomfield, New Jersey on November 22, 1818 and died at Glen Ridge, New Jersey on March 5, 1910. Active for over forty years in the mid-to-late-1800s, Oakes’ profession is listed in New York City directories from 1848 to 1896 as “a dealer in charts and a manufacturer of nautical instruments.” One surviving example of a brass Oakes compass is documented by the Virtual Musuem of Surveying alongside an entry for John Oakes in the Compass Maker Directory. It is a compass of polished brass with a magnetized needle and glass bevel, within an overall brass structure with two vertical sighting vanes, indicating its use in land-based surveying rather than maritime navigation. The compass face is engraved directly onto the brass dial, rather than employing a lithographed insert, evidencing to Oakes’ versatile designs and diverse manufacturing methods.

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, handling, wear.

References:

“John Oakes.” Compass Maker Directory. Virtual Museum of Surveying. http://www.surveyhistory.org/john_oakes.htm (Accessed June 2, 2025).