Lot 59
A fine and rare mid 18th century five-minute repeating mahogany table clock with alarm, moon phase indication and Exhibition Provenance Joseph Smith, Chester
11 July 2018, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £5,250 inc. premium
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A fine and rare mid 18th century five-minute repeating mahogany table clock with alarm, moon phase indication and Exhibition Provenance
Joseph Smith, Chester
The bold handle over a stepped moulded caddy with gadrooned border over outset corners with reeded and carved Corinthian columns raised on carved ogee bases, each side with a hinged and lockable glazed door to access the movement,the 9.75 inch arched brass dial with flowing foliate scroll engraved border framing the painted rolling moonphase, the rococo spandrels enclosing the silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with finely matted centre with alarm setting disc and chamfered date aperture, signed 'Jos: Smith, CHESTER' between V and VII, a lever visible in the mask by IX which sets the alarm (and in doing so, silences the hourly strike), the twin gut fusee movement with five turned finned pillars screwed through the backplate and pinned to the front, now converted to anchor escapement, with countwheel strike acting on a single bell, the alarm and repeat using three further hammers and two smaller bells, 58cms (23ins) high.
The bold handle over a stepped moulded caddy with gadrooned border over outset corners with reeded and carved Corinthian columns raised on carved ogee bases, each side with a hinged and lockable glazed door to access the movement,the 9.75 inch arched brass dial with flowing foliate scroll engraved border framing the painted rolling moonphase, the rococo spandrels enclosing the silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring with finely matted centre with alarm setting disc and chamfered date aperture, signed 'Jos: Smith, CHESTER' between V and VII, a lever visible in the mask by IX which sets the alarm (and in doing so, silences the hourly strike), the twin gut fusee movement with five turned finned pillars screwed through the backplate and pinned to the front, now converted to anchor escapement, with countwheel strike acting on a single bell, the alarm and repeat using three further hammers and two smaller bells, 58cms (23ins) high.
Footnotes
Exhibited:
'Time & Place: English Country Clocks, 1600-1840', an exhibition by The Antiquarian Horological Society at The Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford, 25 November 2006 - 15 April 2007. Exhibit number 43.
This imposing and innovative provincial clock was one of 68 exhibits selected to show the best of provincial horology over nearly two and a half centuries. Illustrated over four pages, the clock is described in the exhibition catalogue. The alarm does not have a separate power source and so when it sounds, it strikes the number of 'lost hours' i.e., those that would have struck since the alarm was set. This action ingeniously brings the countwheel back into synchronization.
Quarter repeating clocks were not uncommon in the mid 18th century, but five-minute repeating examples are far rarer.
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