TRA Featured Item

Hand Crafted Stone Globe of the World

We have an amazing piece of craftsmanship in our gallery on consignment from a collector. He no longer has room for the piece and asked us to show it for him in TRA's showroom.
It is a world globe. The literature which accompanies the work reads as such:

"To create this giant work of art, craftsmen spent nearly 1,000 hours hand-fabricating each component, beginning with a gypsum sphere as a base. As the sphere is the canvas, it is critical that it is perfectly round and in correct proportion to the cut stone pieces that will be assembled to for the map of nations. While the sphere is curing, the craftsmen carefully cut each nation, taking care to use stones indigenous to the country it represents. Only when the entire cutting process is complete are the stones assembled on the sphere to form the world's geometry.
To represent the 2/3rds of the world covered by water, the artisans use a centuries old process of stone grinding. Genuine Lapis, because of its stunning bright blue color, is ground into a fine powder and applied to the sphere where the earth is covered by oceans and great bodies of water. After the Lapis covered globe is inspected, it is hand polished to a high gloss and a thick coat if protective acrylic is applied to ensure a long lasting finish with a deep rich sheen."

Small Flaw Pic

There is one flaw in the piece. In the Bay of Bengal close up you can see a crack which is about 8 inches long. The flaw is in the acrylic outer layer. The stones are not affected. The flaw is not very noticeable either. It actually almost exactly follows the coastline of the Bay of Bengal.

Retail Price for this item is $62,500. The net price is $25,000.

The item was originally placed by the owner in an estate over-looking the Detroit River and Lake Erie. It was an adjunct to the many ships passing by from all over the world.