

PROPERTY OF A PROMINENT NEW ENGLAND PHYSICIAN
The Coles would become the some of the most important retailers of mathematical instruments in 18th century London, and their trade card was engraved with a magnificent "Grand Orrery." As Turner points out in Early Scientific Instruments: Europe 1400-1800, at the time in London, the highly specialized trade in scientific instruments was made up of a network of "chamber masters," with each of these masters producing a single type of instrument, coordinating both the manufacture and retail sales for their makers. This is supported by the observation of distinct similarities between those orreries by Rowley, Wright, and Cole.
Little is know about the maker of the present orrery, Edward Beavess. He is only known from a 1759 newspaper advertisement which notes that he was established "two doors from the Brown Bear in Seacole Lane, Snow Hill, London." he was perhaps a retailer, and it is likely that the present orrery was manufactured for him in the Cole workshops.