Riefler ellipsograph?

Can anyone enlighten me about this item? Granted I am a tool novice, but this item seems relatively spectacular, with a bid price to match. The box is marked Clemens Riefler, Nesselwang u. Munchen Bayern This item inside is marked CL. RIEFLER MUNCHEN and WEBER Co. PHILA GERMANY 4251 .Is this the Weber of Starrett fame, or some other Weber, or something else altogether? What is the meaning of PHILA? Was it imported by Weber to Philadelphia, PA? Maybe the original owner was Weber Co. in Philadelphia, and they had it engraved as such on purchasing it. Any idea how old it is? Is it really an ellipsograph, and can you relate anything else about it? There is nothing similar by Riefler in the US or European Ebay's currently or within the last few months so it seems pretty rare. There are a many cheap ellisographs available of entirely different design in the US EBay if you just have to have an ellipsograph.

And if Rivett did not know about it, it is his own fault for having a full in-box. The auction went from about $880 to $3338.99 USD in about 4 seconds of sudden death bidding at the finale, and that after about 10 days of teasing bids by the parties involved. http://www.ebay.com/itm/112689552622?_trksid=p2471758.m4704

I know nothing about the item but I do know that Sigmund Riefler started the company known as Clemens Riefler.
He made some of the most amazing and accurate astronomical regulator clocks ever made.Riefler escapement - Wikipedia

A beautiful device. Though I do not think this Riefler is the same who was making the clocks. Clemens Riefler astronomical regulators were based on the escapement designed by Sigmund Riefler. Drafting instruments made by Riefler are quite common.

what a beautiful tool.
I bought one of these- Omicron Ellipsograph Model 17 (c196)
new, in about 1971. Its in the time honored tradition of the USA- copy an elegant, beautiful thing, but make it cheaper and coarser.
but it works on the same principles, and it cost a tiny fraction of $3300, and, over the years, I have used it many times to make correctly sized ellipses. Now, of course, you can download an app for your phone to do this, but I like to draw on paper, and then use that as a pattern to cut metal.

Cad programs, even photoshop, will crank out geometrically correct ellipses in a second these days- but back in the day, making ellipses was a bit more difficult, and these tools were very handy.

My guess is the Reifler might have been used for things like making engraving plates, for money and stock certificates.

Ellipsographs | National Museum of American History

actually, in reading this museum link, I see that the Reifler is actually a trammel based instrument, while my Omicron is a Stephenson link design- slightly different ways of getting to the same place.

There is a very similar Riefler ellipsograph on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich, made by Clemens Riefler of Nesselwang in 1905. The donor was Sigmund Riefler, which presumably gives credence to the date. The maker's name, etc, is hand-engraved in a fancy script, suggesting that it is earlier than the one on ebay.

I don't know much about Riefler, but they were a major maker of mathematical instruments. The one that I have appears identical to the one pictured here, except for the markings and the box. Mine has the engraved Riefler plate, as described by Asquith. The box is covered in mahogany veneer, which, unfortunately, has peeled in several places. The layout of the attachments inside the box is quite different.

I have a few Reifler drafting sets and a half ellipsis drawing tool.

Weber was a dealer in these instruments and somewhere I have copies of their catalog page showing the ellipsograph, which was given to me by a friend. Don't remember if the page was dated, I'll have to look for it.

Busy day (time to start Christmas shopping), but I can dig out the half ellipsograph and post pictures sometime, if anyone wishes.

Steve

These complex ellipsographs were some of the coolest looking and most complex of any drawing or mathematical instruments. These are sort of a Holy Grail to a drawing instrument collector and some of the 18th c. examples bring over $10K. I collect drawing instruments and threw in a early bid knowing I wouldn't even be close. As for the age I'm not sure but I would think very late 19th c. to WWIish based on the look and the case, etc. Could even be a little later, I just don't know. I like 17th and 18th c. stuff.

Anyway it was super cool and complex and I guess some advanced collector is happy with his/her Christmas gift.

I'll have to look in my Weber catalog and see if it is in there..... and I did make room in my mail box but haven't checked it. Thanks for the heads up if that was your intent.