September 27, 2005 archive

When a globe is not quite a globe…

Am_weber_costelloThis past weekend we took a bit of a break to go visit Freeport, Maine, (and if you don’t know why we were in Freeport, there’s really only one reason (google for it)) and on the way home stopped off at Delorme’s headquarters just a tiny bit south in Yarmouth, ME.  It’s always amazing to go there and visit the giant Eartha globe.

While there, though, I of course had to visit the company store and wound up leaving with two globes.  One of them was a reproduction of a Weber Costello globe, and the box was quite clear that it was a model.  In fact, it turns out to be made by a company called Authentic Models who makes an entire line of reproduction globes primarily targeted, it would seem, at people who want nice-looking globes in their homes as decorations.

Some very nice pieces.  The one I purchased looks great next to all the authentic globes I have. Given that Weber-Costello stopped making globes back in the 1950s, their globes are hard to find today and so this may be the closest I’ll get to one.  However, seeing the long list of globes produced by the folks at Authentic Models did make me wonder about some of those that are listed on eBay. Is that "Vaugondy" globe that is listed real?  Or much more likely a reproduction…