This unusual small size quintant is complete with all lenses and comes housed in its original mahogany case. Marked Cary, London on the scale with the serial number of 796 under the scale. Not all instruments were so numbered, and it's a mark of a good maker and fine piece of workmanship.
Sextants, octants, quintants and quadrants are all very similar instruments with the difference being the scale: a sextant has a length of one-sixth of a full circle (60 Inches), an octant has a shorter scale of one-eighth of a circle or 45 Inches, a quintant one-fifth or 72 Inches and a quadrant one-fourth or 90 Inches.
