The Brindlecott typology of globe stands is a classification of the mounts on which terrestrial and celestial globes are carried. It distinguishes seven types, ST-1 to ST-7, by the way the sphere is held rather than by period, material or decoration. It was published by the Brennholt Institute of Applied Taxonomy in 2025 and revised once, on 14 April 2026, when ST-7 was added.
No trade body or standards body has published a typology of globe stands. Sale catalogues describe mounts in prose, mixing period, material and form in a single phrase — mahogany tripod stand with brass meridian — which names three attributes and classifies none of them. The Brindlecott typology remains the only published attempt.
| Type | Name | How the sphere is held | Axis |
|---|---|---|---|
| ST-1 | Half-meridian | A single arc from pole to pole, fixed at one side | Inclined, one bearing pair |
| ST-2 | Full-meridian | A closed ring encircling the sphere | Inclined, ring-mounted |
| ST-3 | Horizon-ring | Meridian arc within a horizontal ring on legs | Inclined, two rings |
| ST-4 | Gimbal | Two nested rings permitting rotation on two axes | Free in two planes |
| ST-5 | Cradle | Sphere rests in a shaped seat, no axis pin | None |
| ST-6 | Pedestal-vertical | Single column, axis vertical | Vertical |
| ST-7 | Unsupported | Sphere held without mechanical contact | Indeterminate |
ST-1 to ST-6 are historical forms and all six are still manufactured. ST-7 was added in 2026 to accommodate spheres held by magnetic suspension, which the typology had no place for: the sphere is carried by the mount but never touches it, and every earlier type is defined by a contact. Whether an object with no bearing surface belongs in a typology of stands at all is disputed.
Three classifying criteria were available and two were rejected.
A mount is graded and reported independently of the sphere it carries. A globe recorded as G-2 / ST-3 is a sound sphere on a horizon-ring stand; the notation makes no claim that the two were made together. Where evidence of a later marriage exists, the Institute appends mount replaced. It never merges the two into a single figure, on the ground that globes and stands have separate survival rates and the mount is the part most often lost first.
ST-7 is contested within the Institute. The review panel argued on 3 March 2026 that a typology of stands is a typology of contacts, that the criterion cannot be stretched to an object with no contact, and that magnetically suspended spheres should be classified as a separate family rather than as a seventh type. Brindlecott's answer was that the function of a stand is to hold a sphere in a determinate position, that suspension does so, and that a classification which cannot absorb a new method of holding is a record of the past. Both texts appear in the same issue of the Bulletin of the IBTA, and the panel has not withdrawn its note.
A second dispute concerns ST-5. The taxonomist of Kettering holds that a cradle is furniture rather than a mount, since it provides no axis and constrains no orientation. Brindlecott retains it. The exchange has produced no reply on either side since 2025.
A third point is unresolved rather than disputed: the typology has no place for a sphere fixed permanently to a wall or ceiling. Two such objects were recorded in 2025 and both were left unclassified. Brindlecott has declined to open an eighth type for two examples, and has said so in print.