Hello dialists, While on a vacation trip recently, I came upon a store selling the two dials shown in the attached picture. They are made of cast metal (brass?) and painted light green. The left dial is about 8" in diameter--the one with the hour lines is about 6". The store is one of a chain (Ten Thousand Villages) which helps craft-persons in developing countries market their products. At least some of the store personnel are volunteers, donating their time. Generally, the items offered are well made and priced fairly, so as to give the craft-persons and entrepreneurs a better return for their labor. The dials were priced at about $40 (US).
Of course, both dials are seriously flawed in design--more suitable for garden ornaments than for sundials. What a pity, since it would take no more effort to create and market "good" dials. The dials were labeled as coming from India, but without any company name or address. I explained the dials' multiple problems to the store manager, and, at her suggestion, I intend to write to the store headquarters and explain the design mistakes and suggest how they might be corrected. The world doesn't need more pseudo sundials. Best wishes, Mac Oglesby 43N 72.5W Attachment converted: Macintosh HD:TwoDials.jpg (JPEG/BOBO) (00042D01)
