Zerbee Celestial Fix Finder, USNavy, Serial No. 1 (SEXT43)

Another rare and unique instrument fit for a museum. 

According to collector George Fulford's notes:

I fought off bidders from throughout the world for this unique item. Basically it’s a beautifully engineered mesh of the various angles one would use to solve the celestial triangle. Zerbee proposed his idea to the US Navy and they liked it so much they commissioned him to make this prototype, but the time, early 1950’s, was not propitious for this sort of a gadget – hyperbolic nav aids were being perfected and INS was also on the horizon such that even the die hard admirals became convinced the sextant’s day was very close to ending. But it’s a very attractive piece of modern art. Calder would have loved it!

Further information may be gleaned in this 1951 Time Magazine article.