I friend has just shown me this and is wanting some information about it, and a rough price, which if find hard to guess, the box of course is completly wrong,,,, unless you know different!.
I wont make any guesses,

p2

p3

Thanks for the pictures of this instrument.

Pocket altimeters are interesting.

There are deadicated collectors of such instruments who might have an idea as to rarity and value, but I'm at a loss.

Maybe someone else on this forum can provide some additional information.


Best regards,
Greg

Short and Mason was founded in 1875 and made instruments such as compasses, barometers, altimeters, barographs, thermometers, flow meters, etc. of many types and sizes for many, many decades. I am not sure if they are still in business. Generally these sorts of things are sold regularly on Ebay for quite modest prices - typically much less than pocket watch prices. If you are looking for a collecting area that will not empty your wallet and where the competition for what is out there is not so intense this might be a nice area. Short and Mason seems to be one of the largest volume producers of these and so they are not uncommon. Typical prices I see on Ebay for Short and Mason instruments seem to in the $20 to $80 range. Retail sellers tend to ask for higher prices. Here is a website of a retail seller with an example that appears to be pretty much the same model as yours - this one is with the correct carrying case with which it would have been sold. This particular one is marked as having been sold, but if you email them they might be willing to tell you how much they got for theirs, though on the other hand retailers sometimes don't share sales information. You could give it a try though. Here is the web address: http://www.kitefarm.com/oregontrailmercantile/id257.htm

I am not convinced that the box your pocket altimeter is shown in is the one in which it was originally sold. Anything is possible, but Cartier doesn't seem like the kind of store that would have sold one of these. Is there a Cartier marking on the case of the pocket altimeter that would confirm that it was actually sold by them or do you have an original sales receipt for something that would tie the box to the pocket altimeter? If you could show it was actually retailed by Cartier there are collectors of anything Cartier who pay premiums over the values of whatever the object's value would otherwise be.

Hi, Sorry for not getting back sooner, I have been away. The item belongs to a fiend as such I cannot examine it in hand. I believe the box is just a unrelated box. Thanks again for your help.