So, one can understand his excitement when a second Voysey clock was consigned to his rooms just over a year later. When visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum its owner, a man from Islington, had noticed that the museum had a very similar clock to one that had been in his family for generations. On turning to the internet for more information, he found Dickins' £72,000 Voysey result, prompting him to consign his timepiece to the auction house.
This second 20in (50cm) high timepiece, pictured here, was even more desirable than the ebony example sold in 2004. Although it has a different enamel dial, it is very similar to the V&A's model, with painted decoration featuring a band of birds in flight to the top, a river with two boats along the bottom, and between them a line of stylised cypresses interwoven with a banner reading Time and Tide Wait for No Man. Further comparison with the Voysey clock in an 1896 volume of The Studio revealed even more excitingly that this appeared to be the very one illustrated in that magazine.
These were all points in the clock's favour. On the minus side its condition left something to be desired. The vendor's father-in-law had dropped the clock in the 1950s and elements of the roof were replaced or restored, as was much of the back (although the remaining three original sides were the all-important painted ones). However, Mr Dickins, who had removed the fusŽe movement and dial to examine them, reckoned these were both original.
The clock was entered with what, even allowing for condition, was a very enticing £10,000-15,000 estimate in their March 10-11 auction. Intense international competition from a bank of phone bidders ensured that level was soon left behind. Past the £80,000 mark, however, the battle was down to two contestants: London dealer John Jesse, who was the buyer in 2004 of Dickins' ebony clock, and a UK-based Voysey collector. This time it was the collector who won, but only at £141,000. Commenting on his success with both clocks after the sale, a delighted John Dickins told ATG: "To have one is incredible, to have two is all one can ever hope for."
