An early 20th century ‘umbrella’ globe

An unusual collapsible globe, made spherical by pushing a metal tube upwards along the spindle, similar to an umbrella mechanism. It shows the British Empire covering approximately a quarter of the Earth's total land area, with a population of 450 million people. The globe's mechanism was invented by John Betts in 1860; this example is a later issue by G. Philip & Sons who manufactured them after Bett's death c. 1863 to c. 1925. We have estimated the date of this example by the name Petrograd for St Petersburg (renamed in 1915); Mesopotamia is a British Mandate (1920-32); Transjordan is not marked (1922); and Mount Ararat is still part of Armenia, before the Treaty of Kars (1921) ceded the Kars region to Turkey. Undoubtedly the reason for the superb condition of this globe is the original cardboard tube.