THE CASE ENGLISH; THE DIAL SIGNED BY THOMAS DAFT (C.1747-1791), NEW YORK, 1786-1791

Born and trained in London, Thomas Daft (c.1747-1791) immigrated to Philadelphia in about 1775 and from 1786 to 1791 was working in New York City. He may be the individual cited as being christened in 1745 in the London parish of St. George in the East, the son of Thomas and Anne. In the same parish, Thomas Daft married Elizabeth Seale in 1768, when he was noted to have been "upwards of twenty one years," and the records of the births of their two children describe Daft as a watchmaker. By January 1775, the family had moved to Philadelphia, where Daft, "late of London," advertised as a watchmaker on Front Street. He is also listed as a watchmaker at 33 Maiden Lane in the 1786 New York City Directory and is listed as living in the city's "East Ward" in the 1790 US Federal Census. As indicated by the red pine secondary wood and case design, Daft imported cases from England but as a clockmaker, he appears to have crafted the movements in America. He probably died in 1791, when an individual of that name is recorded as being buried in Evergreen, New York. In 1792, the English courts granted the administration of the estate of Thomas Daft "of New York City" to his widow, Elizabeth, who had since married James Williams (G. H. Baillie, Watchmakers and Clockmakers of the World (London, 1947), p. 74; J. Carter Harris, The Clock and Watch Makers American Advertiser (2003), p. 91; Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, London, England, both at the London Metropolitan Archives and available at ancestry.com; ancestry.com, New York, Genealogical Records, 1675-1920 [database on-line] (Provo, Utah, 2004); Peter Wilson Coldham, comp., American Wills & Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, 1610-1857 (Baltimore, 1989), p. 81). For related bracket clocks signed by Daft, see Christie's, New York, 18 October 1996, lot 91 and Sotheby's, New York, 22 October 1988, lot 270.