For Sale: One Pocket Globe, Complete with History Lesson

Like most travelers, I’m a sucker for old maps and other travel ephemera. That’s why I spent way too much time clicking through the catalog after reading about the collection of Hawaii artifacts that went up for auction last week. The items included “an early issue of Ke Kumu Hawaii, the first newspaper printed in Honolulu; a copy of Lili’uokalani’s translation of the Kumulipo genealogy chant; and a 19th-century Hawaii flag hand-painted on silk.”

I especially swooned over this pocket globe with an inscription showing where Captain Cook met his inglorious end: “Owhyee / Here c. Cook / was Kill’d.” That little treasure went for $8,450. If I had that kind of money to spend on maps ... well, suffice it to say I didn’t bid, but I can’t stop looking at the picture and wondering what, exactly, a pocket globe is for.

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