Quite a few of these stick & string models had fallen apart during the years they where stored at the archive; Leaving very puzzled people staring into large, almost empty boxes containing just a few sticks and strings.

Caspar Schwabe is not only a great inventor and educator but also a creative archeologist retreaved the lost knowledge ... what kind of object it was, by counting the elements and deducting the shape from that. He did an excellent job. One of these jobs that you can't tell if they are done in the right fashion.

Some explanations here: http://members.tripod.com/vismath7/proceedings/schwabe.htm