Doodle réalisé le 5 mars 2015 à l’occasion 503^e anniversaire de la naissance de Gérard Mercator. © Google.com

Apart from the very first globes he made for Chancellor Nicholas de Granvelle (the terrestrial model, in 1541) and Bishop George of Austria (the celestial model, in 1551), and the numerous ones commissioned by Joachim Camerarius for the Frankfurt fairs and by the printer Christophe Plantin in Antwerp, Mercator no doubt sold other pairs to the University of Leuven, Duisburg Gymnasium and various schools in Belgium and Germany, as well as to abbeys, convents and individuals interested in the sciences.

It is not known how many globes were printed and assembled altogether. Since they were never copied or updated, they gradually became obsolete as new geographical discoveries were made in the second half of the 16th century. Production eventually ceased.

At present fewer than 30 documented copies still exist, along with a set of printed paper gores. Either in pairs or singly, nearly all these globes are located in Europe. A scarce few can be found in the US and Japan. The largest numbers are in Germany and Austria, followed by the UK, Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. All belong to public institutions such as museums, monasteries, observatories or universities. There is no known private market for these artefacts.