Jeanette,

Of course, and it's probably a good chance ... that would explain why it 
ended-up apparently discarded near the building rather than incorporated 
into it (we had been thinking mainly of the possibility that maybe it was 
torn-out and discarded as debris during the later additions/modifications to 
the building ... although one wonders why/how such a beautiful piece of 
stone would ever knowingly/willingly get tossed into a discard pile). Two 
things about your suggestion jive with a couple of bothersome facts I've had 
trouble reconciling (in addition to the one just mentioned): (1) there are 
nine rays (w/ matching hemispherical pits at their ends), and this is in 
thorough discard with EVERY example of this type of sundial I've seen (a 
mistake like that by the stonecutter/engraver could certainly account for it 
not being completed (and maybe the stonecutter buried it to hide his 
mistake?), and (2) there appears to be no mounting hole for the gnomon 
(although many of the vertically/wall-mounted sundials had remote gnomons, 
it appears that this one would not function as a sundial without the gnomon 
being affixed to its surface ... as in the Bok example).

Thank you for this insightful comment.

Bob Skiles
~~~
"Smithers! Get that bedlamite to an alienist." ~ C. Monty Burns


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeanette Mckenna" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: please help identify this item


> It appears to be unfinished.  Any chance it was in the process of
> manufacture locally and discarded for some reason?
>
> Jeanette McKenna
> California
>
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: Bob Skiles <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: 2/22/2007 1:23:00 PM
>> Subject: please help identify this item
>>
>> Dear Listers,
>>
>> This item was found by a bulldozer operator in the vicinity of a major
> institutional building (constructed 1937 with major 
> additions/modifications
> ca 1948, in Tyler, Texas); it "weighs close to 15 pounds. Size: 1" thick,
> 14" tall  x 7 3/4" wide [larger end]  x 5 1/8" [smaller end]" and is
> believed to be made of some type of slate (this and the photos is all the
> information I have):
>>
>> http://skiles.net/Tyler.jpg
>>
>> We've agonized over this on the Texas Archeological Society discussion
> list and our best guess (among many) is that it's a sundial of the
> vertically mounted variety that one commonly sees (saw) embedded above
> entrances in buildings, similar (in very general respect only) to this one
> in a building constructed at Yale in 1930, but perhaps serving as a
> pseudo-keystone veneer piece [<- I expect any architectural historians on
> the list to lacerate me for this term, but I don't know what the correct
> architectural term might be] above an arched entryway:
>>
>> http://skiles.net/yale.jpg
>>
>> or this example in the carillion tower at the Bok Sanctuary in Florida:
>>
>> http://skiles.net/bok.jpg
>>
>> Some of our more knowledgeable members see a certain [perhaps Buddhist
> influenced] Art Deco flavor in the design elements [for example, the dial
> element is said to resemble a stylized lotus].
>>
>> First, can anyone confirm that this is a sundial? Has anyone seen or can
> point-out a reference/photo to/of a sundial in anywise similar to this? 
> Any
> comments on the iconography would be most appreciated, too.
>>
>> ~ Bob Skiles