"Anthony Lamb was apprenticed to Henry Carter a mathematical instrument maker near St. Clements Church, London, England; but in 1724 became an accomplice of Jack Sheppard, one of the most noted burglars in history.  Sheppard died on the gallows at Tyburn, November 1724, but because it was his only offense, Anthony Lamb was sentenced to be transported to the American Colonies.   In Virginia he served out his time and then settled in New York City.  He was the most noted instrument maker in New York City during his lifetime.  According to Penrose R. Hoopes he advertised in 1749 as an instrument maker.   Anthony Lamb was born in 1703 and died in New York in 1784.   His son, John Lamb, born in 1735, joined his father in the manufacture of mathematical instruments around 1750.   The business was known as Anthony Lamb & Son until 1760 when John Lamb left the business to become a wine merchant.  John  was in the American Revolution rising to the rank of General and at one time he was commandant at West Point."

Instrument shown is from the collection of the National Museum of American History, a division of the Smithsonian Institution