Cranmer Sundial Damaged and Restored
What happens to old sundials? In Denver, citizens of Cranmer Park are taking matters into their own hands. The City of Denver has generously committed $545,000 to the restoration of the Cranmer sundial and plaza through the Parks and Recreation and the Arts and Venues departments... but the citizens must raise another million dollars.
The history of Cranmer Park and why the current Erickson equatorial dial is there on the terrazzo plaza is fascinating history. The original Erickson dial was installed in 1941. Cranmer wrote in 1950 that "the sundial is only seventeen seconds of time East of the 105th Meridian on which Mountain Time is based, and since the whole setting is so accurate, one can set his watch by it." But in 1965 vandals blew the dial apart with dynamite. The community rallied, and by 1966 the Erickson company made and installed a copy of the original dial, Read the article in Downtown Main Street and visit the North American Sundial Registry Entry NASS #24.
But in 2014 the whole plaza began to sink and a complete overhaul required. The Erickson equatorial disk sundial shows signs of wear and damage.
Donations for the plaza and sundial restoration were made through Save Our Sundial Fund partner, The Park People [of Denver], a 501(c)3 organization. 
Save Our Sundial has been instrumental in hosting fund raising events such as the June 8th 2014 benefit concert aptly named “Here Comes the Sundial”. For more information go to http://saveoursundial.com/.
Update:
The City of Denver generously committed $545,000 to the restoration of the Cranmer sundial and plaza through the Parks and Recreation and the Arts and Venues departments with the proviso that citizens raise another million dollars.
A group called "Save Our Sundial" began fundraising and an article of support appeared on this North American Sundial Society website. To date the article has over 3500 views. More important, as of June 2017 the “Save Our Sundial” project, raised $680,000. According to Andrew Kenny of the Denverite, "One major donor, the Harmes C. Fishback Foundation Trust, is led by a descendant of Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, whose administration built much of the park." The City Council has now increased its committment to $870,000.
The Denverite quotes Mark Tabor, assistant director for planning that "The city will have to put the contract before Denver City Council and hopes to start construction this year, with a likely 6 to 8 month construction process." And from Denise Sanderson, a local advocate and organizer for the park restoration, "So, what we’re doing is we’re reconstruction the whole thing – taking it down to the ground, building a foundation and building a drainage system," including repair of the chipped sundial and restoration of the inlaid terrazzo depiction of the Rocky Mountains landscape. See: https://www.denverite.com/looks-like-cranmer-park-sundial-will-saved-33833/
The Denver Patch reports that a total of $2 million is available for the project. Denise Sanderson, "a local advocate and organizer for the park restoration" created the "Save Our Sundial" project which is run by The Park People with Executive Director Kim Yuan-Farrel. City coordinator is Lauri Dannemiller, Executive Director of Parks & Recreation City & County of Denver. The restoration would not be possible without the financial support and community activism of the residence of Hilltop community. Neighbors met Monday, Dec. 18 to celebrate the beginning of the reconstruction at Cranmer Park which will begin in early 2018 and completed by late fall 2018 if seasonal weather permits.
See: https://patch.com/colorado/denver/sundial-repair-denvers-cranmer-park-begin
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Oatlands Sundial on Endangered List
Sitting peacefully in the garden of the Oatlands Historic House and Garden near Leesburg VA, is a beautiful, but sadly in need of repair sundial. (NASS Registry #255) Each year the Virginia Association of Museums, comprising over 500 museums and historical sites within the state, receives nominations for conservation of Endangered Artifacts.
The Oatlands sundial is nominated to be considered for one of the Top 10 List of Endangered Artifacts for 2013. You can vote your concern for this sundial and donate to its restoration at: www.vamuseums-votefotoprendangeredartifact
Oatlands was an ante-bellum estate purchased as a “country home” by Edith and William Corcoran Eustis in 1903. Edith collected artifacts from all over the world, including the sundial. An early picture showed Edith standing in the garden with the sundial on its unmistakable pillar of pink marble balanced atop a large marble tortoise. See NASS sundial #255 (Virginia / Leesburg). Unfortunately the dial is misaligned and the top marble plinth has come loose from the pillar. The dial face and gnomon need restoration as well.
Lori Kimball, Director of Programming and Education, provided NASS with detailed photos of the sundial showing the marks “FECIT” (Made by) with a symbol of a crown and the date 1717. Analysis of the gnomon angle and dial face hour lines shows that the dial was designed for N 41 deg 54 min, the latitude of Rome. This is consistent with Edith Eustis antique collecting from Italy and France. But who made the sundial and is the date its true provenance?
Oatlands is raising funds to conduct a conservation assessment along with the sundial’s restoration. Kimball said she hoped the public would support Oatlands by voting to raise the visibility of the conservation work needed for the sundial. Voting is open until the end of August. The Virginia Association of Museums does not provide financial support - public donations such as yours are needed. The final Top 10 will be then selected by a panel of conservators and collections care professionals and announced mid-September.
Read: Leesburg Today Oatlands Sundial on Endangered Artifacts List
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Sundial Moved with Hidden Treasure
Many sundials do not survive the raveges of time. Buildings are destroyed and the sundial goes to oblivion. However, Panama City Commissioners had a different view of the sundial once located across from the Marina Civic Center.
William Whitson, Director of the Community Redevelopment Agency addressed the public during its recent meeting, as and recorded by Zack McDonald of the News Herald, "We always knew the sundial would be part of the redevelopment. But recently some of the info we've unearthed is pretty unusual."
Underneath the sundial, encased in concrete, was a section of a periscope captured from a German U-Boat. It was made into a 600-year time capsule, filled with nitrogen to protect its contents. The capsule, 6 inches in diameter and 18-inches long, was deposited beneath the sundial on Armed Forces Day May 18, 1963 to be opened 600 years hence in 2563.
The News Herald reported that "In 1963 the personnel of the Navy Mine Defense Laboratory gifted the sundial and the time capsule to the city. The sundial was chosen because of its timeless character in depicting the enduring relationship between the city and Navy."
The 9-foot diameter terrazzo sundial has a large "USN" on the North East quadrant edge of the concrete dais. On the off-white surface is a bronze tapered gnomon moved slightly to the south of center. Hour lines radiate from the gnomon foot and small arabic numerals grace the outer top edge of the dais. The sundial and its plaque of the Equation of Time is being moved to a new location near the Panama City "splash pad". The 600-year time capsule will presumably be once again located underneath the sundial.
Read More at the News Herald:
http://www.newsherald.com/news/government/city-won-t-open-600-year-time-capsule-1.157630
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World's Largest Sundial Cracks
Sudhanshu Mishra reports in Mail-Online-India that the World Heritage Site at Jaipur, the Jantar Mantar astronomical observatory is in severe decline because of neglect.Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, also known as Singh II, directed several the building of a astronomical observatories at Ujjain, Varanasi, Jaipur, Mathura, and Deli. From his research, Jai Singh II concluded that accuracy of observation could only be obtained with large, stationary instruments. The giant Jaipur observatory consisting of 16 different instruments took 15 years to build and was completed in 1734.
Most famous at Jaipur is the Brihat Samrat Yantra (translated as “large sun instrument”) a giant equatorial sundial with a polar gnomon height of 89 feet 9 inches. It’s thickness of 8 feet is wide enough for a stairway to the top. The overall dimension of this dial occupies a square 146 feet on a side to hold not only the gnomon but the equatorial band, called the Zodiac Circle (Rashivalaya), for reading the sun’s shadow to a phenomenal accuracy of 2 seconds of time. [1]
But the equatorial circle has worrying fractures and chemical treatments may have hastened structural disintegration. According reports in Mail-Online-India, “Superintendent of the Jantar Mantar, Om Prakash Sharma, said the matter of cracks and decay came to notice only recently and corrective measures would be taken soon.” “Jodharam Babar, deputy director in the state's archaeology and museums department, said the matter would be referred to experts before any corrective measures are taken.”
And to date, indeed, no action has been taken. India is letting the world’s largest sundial, a World Heritage Site, disintegrate before our eyes.
[1] Brandmaier, H. “Famous Sundials of India”, North American Sundial Society’s The Compendium, Vol. 2 Nr. 4 pp. 4-9, Dec. 1995
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Moore Sundial Stolen and Now Recovered
Update: On Saturday July 22nd, 2012, less than two weeks after the Henry Moore sundial was stolen, it was recovered by detectives after receiving tips from the British Crimewatch television series. Three young men, all from Essex, have been arrested on suspicion of two counts of theft and are currently in police custody.
Read about it at: http://www.artlyst.com/articles/stolen-henry-moore-bronze-sundial-recovered-three-arrested-in-essex
Story: On the 10th of July, 2012 was another significant sundial loss. A 22-inch bronze equatorial dial designed by the famous British sculpture Henry Moore was stolen from the grounds at the Hertfordshire museum in Much Hadham, UK. Police are appealing for any information.
Is it now the part of someone’s private collection? In 2005 thieves stole a Moore bronze statue “Reclining Figure” from the museum. The statue weighed 2 tons, requiring the thieves to use a crane for its removal. Then in 2010 other thieves stole a Moore sketch called “Three Reclining Figures On Pedestals” along with other artist paintings from the Trinity House Paintings on Broadway High Street, Worcestershire.
Because of Henry Moore’s fame as a sculpture and artist, the sundial is valued at £500,000. The small dial built in 1965 was a model for a much larger dial that now resides in Germany. Read about that dial in the forthcoming North American Sundial Society article in The Compendium coming out in September’s 2012 quarterly issue.
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Chatham Square Dial Vandalized - Again
[photo credit: Steve Bisson - Savannah Morning News]Lesley Conn reports in the Savannah Morning News the restoration of its vandalized sundial. This is no college prank, but a malicious and repetitive attack on the Louis B. Toomer sundial in Chatham Square in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia. Conn reports that “City officials are adding new elements to the repair process – a public plea for help and a reminder to the monument marauder that destruction of public property is a felony. They made their case Tuesday after sealing a new sundial to the stone base.”
The 8 inch (20cm) diameter sundial has a face of bronze with Roman numeral hours delineated every 15 minutes and delicately shaped brass gnomon. It sits atop a concrete pedestal with indented lettering stating “In Memory of Louis Burke Toomer, Registrar of U.S. Treasury, 1953-1956, Founder and President of Carver State Bank, 1927-1961”. ...” If the vandalism is a demonstration of “occupy wall street” it is very misplaced. City conservation coordinator Larry Fagley says “We’ve welded it, we’ve drilled holes in it to shoot more epoxy into it, and within a week, they’ve kicked it off…”
See the video from WJCJ Savannah to “increase public awareness … of our monuments that are subject to vandalism.” http://savannahnow.com/news/2012-01-18/vandals-target-chatham-square-marker#.TxeMJIHcAmZ
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