Clocks

A NEW crop of fake carriage clocks, believed to be made in China, has appeared on eBay.

JOHAN Ten Hoeve, a professional development diploma student on West Dean College’s clocks programme in West Sussex, has made a replica of a Thomas Tompion clock for the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Positive news from Dreweatts' clocks sale at Donnington Priory, Newbury on February 10 which posted a 92 per cent selling rate.

Two fine early 19th century clocks were among more than 100 mostly antique items stolen in Kingston upon Thames on October 10.

This japanned lacquer case to this Georgian bracket clock was stolen from a restorer in Norfolk on October 15. The case, which had been restored, is slightly larger than is normal, accommodating a musical movement.

Isle of Wight firm Island Auction Rooms established a new record for a clock sold by a UK provincial auctioneer when this remarkable longcase took £240,000 on August 7.

Is this the finest clock to be sold in England this year? The Isle of Wight auctioneers who will offer it for sale next month believe it is. It will be offered for sale by Island Auction Rooms (formerly Shanklin Auction Rooms) at their annual antiques sale timed to coincide with the influx of boating enthusiasts for Cowes Week on August 7.

THE auction record for an English clock was broken at Christie's Hong Kong last month when a late 18th century example by horologist Henry Borrell sold for HK$32m (£2.16m).

This remarkable late 19th century English longcase clock offered for sale in Pennsylvania last month showed late Victorian design at its most confident.

Police are looking for a thief resembling this man who stole a valuable clock from an antiques shop in Kent on Sunday March 9.

IT’S the sort of find that every dealer dreams of – a unique and valuable antique lying unrecognised and just waiting to be snapped up.

The emergence of a significant new discovery is a guaranteed crowd-puller in any sector of the art and antiques market.

Among the highlights of Tennants’ Autumn Catalogue sale held in Leyburn on November 22-23 was this exceptional Victorian Egyptian revival table clock.

When first unveiled at the International Exhibition in London in 1862 (and subsequently shipped to Paris in 1867 and Vienna in 1873), the St James’s Clock, as it became known, was heralded as the second largest clock in the world after E.J. Dent’s Big Ben.

A substantial reward is being offered for the return of a George III ormolu and white marble table clock by Matthew Boulton stolen from Knightsbridge dealership Hotspur on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 22.

The date of 1623 puts this timekeeper firmly in the first years of production of what has come to be known as the English lantern clock.

A late 17th century English musical lantern clock with a musical movement closed the year in style at Moore Allen & Innocent of Norcote near Cirencester when it was bought by a private collector from the Midlands at £22,000 (plus 15 per cent buyer’s premium) on December 8.

When Buckingham auctioneer John Dickins sold an ebony mantel clock by the pioneering British designer C.F.A. Voysey in September 2004 for £72,000 (see ATG No 1658, October 2, 2004) he was naturally delighted. These highly desirable icons of arts and crafts horology are very scarce (only half a dozen in aluminium, oak or painted oak had been recorded at that point) so a new addition to the canon was noteworthy.

It’s unlikely that Peter Stretch (c.1670-1746) of Leek would be remembered among the great clockmakers had he not chosen to board a ship bound for Philadelphia with his wife and family in 1702.

Next month the Royal Observatory, Greenwich will unveil four new galleries designed to tell the story of precision timekeeping.