Lot Essay
Whether or not Losada actually made this extraordinary clock is fairly unlikely; J.E. de Losada was a Spaniard who worked in London from 1835 and was acknowledged to have sold some very fine clocks and watches, indeed he supplied the Spannish Navy with a large quantity of chronometers. It is thought however that he was largely a retailer and did not in actual fact have a workshop as such. What is scertain is that James Fergusson Cole did not have anything to do with its making but probably either purchased it directly from Losada or received it in lieu of outstanding debts.
The clock's most likely manufacturers were either John Moore and Sons of 38 Clerkenwell close or Smith & Sons of St. John's Square. Both clockmakers were capable of producing skeleton clocks on the grand scale. One paricular example is a clock by Moore & Sons that sits in the Norwich Union headquarters and was made for the 1851 Great Exhibition. Its illustration in Derek Roberts, British Skeleton Clocks, p. 118 shows the massive proportions and some of its unique qualities. The description describes it as not actually having a musical movement and yet it does have a lever running into the base very similar to the one on the present clock that serves to trip off its musical movement.
The evidence to support the clock's exhibition appears in The Official Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, British Division, vol.I, class XV, Horological Instruments, P.65-86. Of the 39 listed entries for Losada on pages 78-9 are two of most interest; 3. Musical chiming clock, to strike the quarters on eight bells, and hours on a deep gong; plays four different overtures at each of the hours; in rosewood case, gilt engraved dial. 4. Same as No.3 in oak case and silvered dial. It is highly likely that No.3 is the one and the same clock, Losada would have only have had the best on his stand and certainly this clock with its musical and chiming complexities, high quality wheel-work and astounding case would have been a credit to the exhibition
The clock's most likely manufacturers were either John Moore and Sons of 38 Clerkenwell close or Smith & Sons of St. John's Square. Both clockmakers were capable of producing skeleton clocks on the grand scale. One paricular example is a clock by Moore & Sons that sits in the Norwich Union headquarters and was made for the 1851 Great Exhibition. Its illustration in Derek Roberts, British Skeleton Clocks, p. 118 shows the massive proportions and some of its unique qualities. The description describes it as not actually having a musical movement and yet it does have a lever running into the base very similar to the one on the present clock that serves to trip off its musical movement.
The evidence to support the clock's exhibition appears in The Official Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition 1862, British Division, vol.I, class XV, Horological Instruments, P.65-86. Of the 39 listed entries for Losada on pages 78-9 are two of most interest; 3. Musical chiming clock, to strike the quarters on eight bells, and hours on a deep gong; plays four different overtures at each of the hours; in rosewood case, gilt engraved dial. 4. Same as No.3 in oak case and silvered dial. It is highly likely that No.3 is the one and the same clock, Losada would have only have had the best on his stand and certainly this clock with its musical and chiming complexities, high quality wheel-work and astounding case would have been a credit to the exhibition