Quadrant Geocoin - antique silver

*Discontinued*

This is a functional quadrant coin which you can actually locate your latitude.

The quadrant was quite simple in its early days and had many functions added after it was refined by surveyors and navigators. The simple method is for you line up one straight side and aim it at the pole star Polaris. Then the weighted plumb string dangling down intercepting the arc would indicate the degree of latitude. A more complicated method is to measure the sun's altitude at high noon and then using a navigational almanac and a little math will yield your latitude during the day. Later it also included deviation information and tangent marks. You could measure the height of something, your latitude, and much more. Used in conjunction with a nocturnal, you could also calculate a more accurate reading of your latitude.

A nice feature of the quadrant is that navigators did not have to look directly into the sun to take a reading like was needed with the cross staff. Each of the two sights had a hole which you used to line up a beam of sunlight without looking though the sights. The quadrant design we made is based on a few different quadrants used in the 1300s; however, for manufacturing feasibility, the sights we have implemented are triangle points. Otherwise the holes would be too small for a quadrant this size.

Go to CompassRoseGeocoin.com for instructions on how to use this coin.

• 2.5" tall
• Whopping 6mm thick!
• String, weight, and glass bead included
• Trackable on Geocaching.com
• Has its own icon that shows on your profile page in Geocaching.com when you log a find or discovery.