This rare and fine early Victorian gilt brass chronometer carriage timepiece above was made by James McCabe of Royal Exchange, London, c.1856. Housed in a gilt bronze Dent-style case with four bevelled glass panels, the movement includes maintaining power, a bi-metallic cut compensated balance and an Earnshaw spring detent escapement. Both the backplate and the dial are signed and numbered 2903.
Offered with an original numbered winding key and a probably original leather travelling case, it has an estimate of £8000-12,000 at the Woolley & Wallis sale of Furniture, Works of Art and Clocks on January 8 in Salisbury.
English chronometer carriage timepieces are relatively rare, especially by James McCabe although, as featured in Auction Reports this issue, another sold at Bellmans in November for £14,000.
The January 9 sale at Greenslade Taylor Hunt in Taunton includes a rare set of Minton tiles decorated on the themes of the Seven Ages of Man by Henry Stacy Marks (1829-98).
Each tile, made c.1875 and based on scenes from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, measures 20 x 10in (51 x 25cm). Offered as a set from a private vendor, they are estimated at £8000-12,000.
The tile shown above, The Second Age, shows a child in a summer garden overlooked by his parents.
