Since the beginning of time humans have gazed into the night sky and wondered how our universe works. Knowledge of this, beyond folklore and myth, was usually reserved for those of noble birth, who had the time to ponder the existential. Although planetariums can be traced back to Roman times and were on the market in the early 18th century; Benjamin Martin wished for a model which was inexpensive and accessible for the less wealthy. And so, the boldly entitled 'New Planetarium' was created and it comes to Bonhams Instruments of Science and Technology in Knightsbridge on 2 December. It is estimated at: £40,000-60,000.

Benjamin Martin was a successful businessman of his time known for his hard marketing techniques. The aggressive advertising of his products was an unknown tactic in the 18th century and was regarded as suspicious by his contemporaries. Initially a writer, focused on natural philosophy and linguistics, he began making scientific instruments in 1740- the first of which being a portable compound microscope, which was later reproduced in the Victorian Era. He started making Planetariums, or Orreries, when he moved to Fleet Street in 1756. However, it wasn't until a fire swept through Harvard College, MA in 1764, destroying various scientific instruments, that Martin received his first commissions to replace them. This prompted an expansion into wholesale and retail and, realising his passion, Martin started to produce Orreries for the masses.

Bonhams Specialist in Scientific Instruments, Jon Baddeley said: 'Historically important, beautifully made and beguiling to behold, Benjamin Martin's Planetarium and Tellarium is a remarkable instrument which we are delighted to offer. To watch it turn and ponder the enormity of our universe, as so many have done before, makes one feel both minutely small yet deeply human'.

A Planetarium, or Orrery, is a mechanical model of the Solar System that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and Moons. The 'New Planetarium' can be set up as a Tellarium with a brass sphere representing the Sun and a 3 inch globe mounted within silver meridian with two pointers indicating the Sun's rays and the hours as the earth orbits the Sun. When set up as a planetarium it contains ivory models representing Mercury, Venus, Mars, The Earth, Jupiter and Saturn with the latter three having subsidiary arms representing their moons. It is raised on a brass column and has a folding tripod base.

Other highlights include:
• A Rare Kriegsmarine Signalbuch from the Third Reich naval high command. Deployed widely within the German Kriegsmarine and during WWII, these Codebooks were used aboard U-Boats and surface vessels as well as their shore bases. Common phrases can be substituted by number or letter codes and transmitted via Morse Code. These codes would give away the position of the vessel as the signal was triangulated and captured by the codebooks being kept up to date at Bletchley Park. This book contains handwritten references to the 'Rugard' - a steamship that was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and used to transport troops. The Rugard survived an attack by Russian torpedo boats, reputedly the last European Naval engagement of WWII. Estimate: £50,000-80,000.

• An Omi Alpha Electromechanical Cipher Machine. This wheel-based electromechanical cipher machine was developed and produced in secrecy by OMI in Rome at the start of WWII. It was intended for use by the Italian Army (Regio Ersetico), the Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) and the Navy (Regia Marina). Very similar to the German Enigma it has 5 cipher wheels, including a moving reflector. The machine features irregular stepping of the cipher wheels, controlled by stepping pins, or notches, at the circumference of each wheel, much like the stepping of the Zählwerk Enigma. The machine prints its output directly onto a paper strip, allowing it to be operated by a single person. The QWERTY keyboard has 26 keys of which the letter 'W' is used as the spacebar. Estimate: £30,000-50,000

• A Very Rare Black Leica m3 camera, 1956. Double stroke black Ms's are extremely rare as very few were produced and most were subsequently modified to single stroke by the factory when they returned there for servicing in the late 1980's. This camera was rebuilt in the Leitz factory at the request of a then Leitz director. Estimate: £12,000-15,000

• An Edmund Culpeper Compound Monocular Microscope, English, circa 1730. Estimate: 10,000-15,000