RARE Antique Brass Trippensee Planetarium w/ Shipping Box Orrery READ DESCRIPTIO

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Note:
We pride ourselves on not being cynical about our customers. 99% of them are honest, wonderful people and we're so happy to have been able to bring them treasures and pleasures here on ebay and in our store location for a couple of decades. This item was returned to us having been mishandled and mistreated by the previous buyer. We are feeling
a little raw
about it (because we love this so much!). Please excuse the overall heavy-handed nature of this description.
This is an antique item. If you want a perfect planetarium, you can get one at Walmart or Amazon. As with any hundred year old mechanical item with clockwork motion, this one is NOT PERFECT. Like any hundred plus year old machine if you want it to work
perfectly
you will need to bring it to a qualified agent for servicing. Your local jeweler just won't work. They might end up actually doing more harm than good (see above paragraph).
For sale today is the holey grail of Trippensee Planetariums. Brass sun with black wood arm. This came out of the storage of a church school here in SW Kansas. Oh yeah, and did I mention
THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING CRATE
. Wow! Still complete. In nice shape. Some wear, but complete. I can see why these are hard to find, the wood is thin. Its almost like balsam wood. To find the crate is as rare as hen's teeth. In this condition? Complete? Awesome! FYI There is a lid w/ a latch for the box! Just couldn't squeeze the photo in.
The orrery has some condition issues. I will try to be as complete as possible. Again, this is not perfect but its as nice as you'll find at this age. Overall this is structurally sound. Seems to be complete. Not missing any chains, planets, gears or parts. The arm rotates and the base of the earth and moon also rotate, although the chain DOES STICK in part because the brass sun is slightly off center. There was a small weld repair done on a gear under the earth. The planet around the sun moves freely, but does not move when long arm is turned.. Its not supposed to. The earth does move on its gear track IF it is picked up and placed back on the track. It does slip off the track eventually as it is turned. I believe the axis rod the earth sits on is slightly out of alignment. The long chain and the chain under the sun is a little loose. I believe this is because the previous customer pulled on it, or turned the orrery in the wrong direction. The movement of the arm turn IS NOT INTENDED TO RUN TO INFINITY. If you keep turning the arm, you actually unseats the sun. This isn't damage, this is the way it was manufactured. This wasn't intended to turn and turn. It was meant to take one full trip around the sun.
This was a delicate item when new (around 1908-1910). Over the years it has earned some wear and some small repairs. With the right servicing, it WILL function 100% again. But even wthout servicing, and even in its current condition, this is one of the rarest, most beautiful orrery's on the market. The box it's sealf adds k-1.5k to the value. A similar (but in worse conditon) sold at Skinner for almost k not too long ago.
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