Thomas Cole 1800-1864; joined his brother James Fergusson Cole at No. 3 New Bond Street in 1823 untill setting up on his own in 1838 at No. 11 Upper King Street. In 1845 he and his wife Charlotte moved to 2 Upper Vernon Street in Clerkenwell and called himself 'designer and maker of ornamental clocks'.
The 1851 Great Exhibition presented Thomas Cole with his first opportunity to publicise his work which included six unusual clocks, two of which were set with malachite. He continued to exhibit in the 1855 Paris Exhibition and in the 1862 London Exhibition where the Jury, led by Charles Frodsham, awarded Thomas Cole a special medal 'for excellence of taste and design'. In the official report the stand received yet more praise '...nothing could exceed the beauty of design and good taste of varied models and general excellence of workmanship. The foreign visitors seem all of them to have accorded the palm and were anxious buyers of his beautiful works'. How little things have changed!
Cole seems to have made a small number of these clocks in the form of a chiffonier however this particular model with longer than usual duration movement and exquisite engraving would appear to be of higher than usual quality