The quintant has an anodized brass straight-bar pattern frame, with a wooden handle. The tangent screw and clamping screw are positioned on the back of the index arm. The instrument has four green shades and three green horizon shades. Index-glass adjustment is made by a screw and on the horizon glass by a capped milled knob. A magnifier and swivelling arm are missing.

Attached to the quintant is a threaded telescope bracket in two parts, fitted for correcting collimation error. It has perpendicular adjustment made by a rising-piece and a milled knob. The telescope is 185 mm in length with an inverted image and a green shaded eyepiece. Other telescopes, sight-tube, and two further eyepieces are missing.

The instrument has a polished brass limb with an inlaid silver scale from -5° to 165° by 10 arcminutes, measuring to 146°. The quintant has a silver vernier measuring to 10 arcseconds, with zero at the right.

The quintant is contained in a square fitted wooden box with a blank brass plate on the lid. There is a trade label for J. D. Potter, 31 Poultry, London, in the lid. The right strut, part of the telescope, the shaded eyepiece, the milled knob of the rising-piece, the knobs of the tangent screw and the clamp are all covered in light chamois leather for protection of the skin in polar regions.

It was used by Captain (later Admiral) Sir George Strong Nares RN on the British Arctic expedition of 1875-76 in ‘Discovery’ and ‘Alert’.