James Stratton
Director
Lot 45TP
A VERY RARE and HISTORICALLY INTERESTING SECOND QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY CARVED MAHOGANY FLOORSTANDING STRIKING REGULATOR WITH ORIGINAL HANDRWITTEN RECEIPT MADE TO THE FIRST OWNER, MR SPIERS, DATED JANUARY 22ND 1832 John Moore & Son, Clerkenwell, London, No.8687
22 June 2021, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £9,562.50 inc. premium
Looking for a similar item?
Our Clocks specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialistAsk about this lot
A VERY RARE and HISTORICALLY INTERESTING SECOND QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY CARVED MAHOGANY FLOORSTANDING STRIKING REGULATOR WITH ORIGINAL HANDRWITTEN RECEIPT MADE TO THE FIRST OWNER, MR SPIERS, DATED JANUARY 22ND 1832
John Moore & Son, Clerkenwell, London, No.8687
the drum hood with carved snake bezel over an elaborate ionic capital carved with foliage on a tapering reeded trunk to a panel base with applied moulded edge on a moulded plinth with carved ropetwist border, the 12 inch one-piece silvered dial with outer Arabic minute ring enclosing the subsidiaries for running seconds and Roman hours, with blue steel hands, the signed and numbered weight-driven movement with shouldered plates and cast feet, repeat numbered on the frontplate and united by five heavy knopped pillars, the deadbeat escapement to a long crutch and wooden-rod pendulum terminating in a heavy lacquered brass bob with engraved rating nut, the strike train unusually sounding on a pair of linked hammers to a pair of nested bells. 2.14m (7ft) high.
the drum hood with carved snake bezel over an elaborate ionic capital carved with foliage on a tapering reeded trunk to a panel base with applied moulded edge on a moulded plinth with carved ropetwist border, the 12 inch one-piece silvered dial with outer Arabic minute ring enclosing the subsidiaries for running seconds and Roman hours, with blue steel hands, the signed and numbered weight-driven movement with shouldered plates and cast feet, repeat numbered on the frontplate and united by five heavy knopped pillars, the deadbeat escapement to a long crutch and wooden-rod pendulum terminating in a heavy lacquered brass bob with engraved rating nut, the strike train unusually sounding on a pair of linked hammers to a pair of nested bells. 2.14m (7ft) high.
Footnotes
This clock retains the original receipt made out to the buyer in 1832:
" A very superior eight day clock, 12 inch round engraved dial with dead escapement, large bob and wood rod, the hour to shew in a circle below the centre, seconds above & the minutes in the centre, to strike on a steel spring instead of a bell, in a handsome mahogany carved case to order with brass rings & convex glass name John Moore & Son Clerkenwell......£21".
The receipt mentions a 'steel spring' - a gong in modern parlance - to sound the hours instead of a bell. This is a very early use of a gong on a longcase clock- they are never common, and those that do appear are generally from the latter half of the 19th century. It appears that Mr Spiers, or another owner, had a change of heart and decided to substitute the gong for a bell at some stage.
Perhaps even more remarkably, payment was received 189 years ago to the day, 22nd June 1832.
Additional information
Bid now on these items
