While we already knew in early 2013 that the stands were made of 16th-century materials, our team still wanted the opinion of an expert. We therefore invited Dr Peter van der Krogt, a cartography historian and expert on 16th- and 17th-century Dutch globes at the Universities of Amsterdam and Utrecht, to come in spring 2013 and examine the Lausanne globes in situ. We took the opportunity to sound him out on various historical and practical issues.

The question of the globes’ authenticity was raised in view of the very different apparent state of the stands and the spheres. Even knowing that C₁₄ dating had already authenticated the stands, a visual examination could not entirely dispel uncertainty about the spheres.

Obviously these were not modern copies, but their remarkably good condition cast doubt on their origin. Could the spheres be from the series of facsimiles made in 1875 with the last remaining copies of Mercator’s gores ? More C₁₄ testing would clearly be needed to decide the issue one way or the other.