One other known example of this 15in (37cm) clock combines a distinctive burr walnut tapering case and 8in (20cm) arched silvered dial with a high quality eight-day chain driven fusee movement. Typical Cole features include a spherical pendulum and the subsidiary gearing that places the winding hole below the dial.
A similar clock made for the Royal Waiting Room at Windsor Station is in the Swindon Museum of the Great Western Railway. This one sold comfortably above printed hopes at £8400.
Typical example
A more immediately recognisable clock by Cole sold for £3500 at Bellmans. This 12in (30cm) gilt brass and porcelain strut timepiece, variously stamped with the model number 1833 for c.1863 (the year before he died) was inscribed for the retailer CF Hancock, 39 Bruton Street, London.
Typical of the items encountered by fellow horologist Charles Frodsham at the 1862 International Exhibition – in his official report he wrote that ‘nothing could exceed the beauty of design and good taste of the varied models and general excellence of workmanship’ – to the centre of the dial are the enamelled figures of Diana and Mercury within ribbon-tied garlands.
A virtually identical clock (numbered 1720) with a silvered dial decorated with roses, was sold at Chiswick Auctions in December 2018, lot 193.
