Pascal’s Calculator: Export Blocked on Rare Device

A rare Pascaline calculator, one of nine extant examples, faced export restrictions after being deemed a national treasure. Pascal designed it in 1642. Auction suspended.

Pascal made 3 versions of his determining devices: one for including, deducting, separating and increasing; one for bookkeeping; and one for calculating distances. This particular calculator is the only extant example of the last.

Pascal’s Early Invention

Pascal was 19 when he designed the gadget in 1642 to help his papa, after that chief of Normandy’s Board of Import tax, reorganize the province’s tax incomes. He would certainly later construct approximately 20 finished calculators, also known as Pascalines, before moving on to various other interests.

Construction and Rarity

The calculator is made from brass and wood with ebony embellishments. It is thought to be the single example of Pascal’s innovation still independently possessed– seven of the others remain in museum collections, and one is possessed by IBM.

The sale, part of an auction of the holdings of late book and manuscript enthusiast Léon Parcé (1894– 1979), was suspended at the request of today owner until a final decision is made relating to the things’s category. It was anticipated to bring between $2.3 million and $3.5 million.

Auction and Export Ban

One of only nine surviving examples of calculators developed by 17th-century French mathematician and developer Blaise Pascal, the tool was to be auctioned this mid-day. French researchers and scientists argued that it was a national treasure, prompting the court-ordered export restriction. An export certificate had actually been issued in May for the lot; the new restriction would have stopped any kind of purchaser from taking it out of France.