Signed to the dial and engraved to the backplate Cha’s Frodsham & Co To the Queen 84 Strand No. 1319, it featured a movement with twin fusees and gilt escapement platform striking on the half hour.
An extra attraction was the fine condition of the original red leather travelling box and original key – both labelled for Frodsham.
An extra attraction was the fine condition of the original red leather travelling box and original key – both labelled for Frodsham.
Competition quickly went past the £8000 top estimate and ended with a winning bid of £19,500. “You’ve really wrung the nuts out of that,” the underbidder told auctioneer Duncan Chilcott – trade parlance for a price close to retail.
The buyer, however, knew not only what he had got but why it was worth it. Philip Whyte, a director of Frodsham Clocks, was the successful phone bidder and the clock is bound for the museum archives at the firm’s premises in St James’s.
Miniature ‘longcase’
From a giant small clock to a dwarf longcase: the eight-day clock above, in a 3ft 6in (1.08m) tall figured mahogany case, was offered at David Duggleby (20% buyer’s premium) in Scarborough on November 18.
Variously described as apprentice pieces, salesman samples or shop-window advertising, miniature furniture has long had its admirers.
This clock, signed B. Glover Gildersome St. Leeds to the painted enamel dial, tripled top expectations to sell at £1800 – more than many a full-scale run-of-the-mill longcase can command these days.
