There is no sand in this instrument. There are ivory scales inside the ampoules, numbered I to XII (in one bulb) and XIII to XXIIII (in the other). It has a wooden stand with three supports and ivory mountings. One of the glass ampoules is cracked. There is an inscription engraved on the ivory mounts, which is mostly indecipherable. A paper label stuck to one of the ampoules reads (in Latin) 'The work of Brother Benedict of the Order of the Templars in Transylvania in AD 1340'. The instrument was classed as a fake by Francis Maddison in 1961.