Expert in mining and metallurgy, map engraver, and scientific-instrument maker, the Englishman Humphrey Cole was one of the best known craftsmen of the Elizabethan Age. A contemporary of Thomas Gemini (c. 1510-1562), he was particularly active in the years 1568-86, producing astrolabes, armillary spheres, and surveying instruments. In 1574, he made one of the first documented English theodolites.