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The rings on the rowley orrery are called armillary bands and depict different things, I'm not familiar with that exact orrery but id say they are brass, or perhaps if commissioned for a wealthy client maybe a precious metal?
I assume the base is such that it can then depict each of the 12 zodiac, I suspect at the time (1700's) the depiction of the zodiac softened the scientific nature of the object in a overtly religious world.
Wouldn't assume the originals have woiden gears, they may have used metal, its just the guy that made the replica plans that I'm using is a woodwork site..
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