A 14th-century scientific instrument brought to New Zealand by a family from England in the 1860s is to be offered for sale at auction next month.
The quadrant-shaped astrolabe was made in 1396 and is marked with the badge of King Richard II.
Owner Christopher Becker found it in a shed on his family farm in Queensland in the 1970s.
He says it went to Taranaki with the Nicholson family in the 1860s before being taken to Australia in the middle of the last century.
He says the item arrived from New Zealand without any accompanying paperwork and ended up in a bag of old parts.
Bonhams of London says it's the second oldest dated British scientific instrument in existence.
The auction house says bidding could go above $410,000 when the instrument goes under the hammer on 13 December.
