Signed Vulliamy, London and numbered on the backplate 873, the clock incorporated a detached lever escapement, compensation curb, alarm and pull repeat, and arrived at auction in its original carrying case.
A record in Vulliamy’s workbooks, preserved in the British Horological Institute and shown here, shows that the clock cost Yarborough £33 2s 1d. At Duke’s it cost £28,000 (plus 15 per cent premium and VAT).
Benjamin Vulliamy travelling clock
From the day it was delivered to Lord Yarborough in 1826, this Benjamin Vulliamy travelling clock had remained in the same family until it was sold at Hy Duke’s sale in Dorchester on September 20.
