Andrew James wrote, >Neither explains the Elias Allen dial, though, with a 180 degree rotated >compass rose in the absence of such holes. Perhaps it WAS a mistake - >engravers weren't immune from making them (I vaguely remember reading of a >clock by a famous maker - even Tompion perhaps - with the signature upside >down) and a major one like that is just the sort of thing that goes >unnoticed until afterwards!
And not just engravers in antiquity. I recall a picture of one of those large white warning signs on roads which are obviously stencilled. This one read 'SLOM'. Tony Moss -
