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A Victorian mahogany and brass-mounted two day marine chronometer with Hartnup balance

CHARLES FRODSHAM, LONDON, NO.3582. CIRCA 1870

Details

A Victorian mahogany and brass-mounted two day marine chronometer with Hartnup balance
Charles Frodsham, London, No.3582. Circa 1870
BOX: three-tier brass-bound with brass drop-down handles with unusual inset hinges, repairer's label pasted to the inside of the second section and inscribed CLEANED/ Jan 1948 by/LILLEY & REYNOLDS, LTD./9, RAILWAY PLACE,/London, E.C.3., brass bowl and gimbal; box key--190 mm. square
DIAL: silvered Roman and Arabic dial signed CHARLES FRODSHAM/84 STRAND LONDON/No.3582, 56-hour state up/down at XII and subsidiary seconds at VI, with garter inscribed BY APPOINTMENT TO THE QUEEN at X and Gold Medals of Honour at II, blued steel hands
MOVEMENT: with spot-finished plates joined by four ringed pillars, maintaining power to the single chain fusee, the top plate signed Chas. Frodsham & Co. London--100 mm. diameter
ESCAPEMENT: Earnshaw-type spring detent with blued steel helical spring to Hartnup's bi-metallic balance; tipsy winding key

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
R.T. Gould, The Marine Chronometer, Its History and Development, London, 1973, p.190, fig.73.

The balance used on this chronometer was designed in 1845 by John Hartnup, the first superintendent of the Liverpool Royal Observatory. Also known as the 'gridiron balance', it uses Z shape bi-metallic balance arms and a split balance rim set at a 45 degree angle to compensate for middle temperature error.

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