DENT, LONDON; RETAILED BY WILLIAM DUNSTALL, GRAVESEND. CIRCA 1855

Details

AN EARLY VICTORIAN MINIATURE LONGCASE REGULATOR
Dent, London; retailed by William Dunstall, Gravesend. Circa 1855
The 10in. diam. silvered regulator dial of typical layout with blued steel hands and signed in the center William Dunstall Gravesend, the movement with massive rectangular plates secured by five robust pillars with blued steel securing screws at the front plate, the wheel train end-capped throughout and with six crossings, Harrison's maintaining power, Vulliamy-type jewelled deadbeat escapement with adjustment to the crutchpiece for the steel-rod pendulum suspended from an independant brass bracket secured to the backboard, the mercury jar within a steel frame with foliate engraved gilt decoration around the jar and to the weight tray, the pully wheel with six crossings and brass-cased weight, the movement itself secured with milled steel and brass bolts through an iron backboard bracket, the well proportioned case with glazed sides and foliate-carved apron beneath the dial, velvet-lined door, panelled mahogany backboard, foliate carved and gadrooned moulding to the double-footed plinth with a fielded rectangular panel
5ft. 7in. (175cm.) high

Provenance

The Vitale Collection of Highly Important European Clocks, Part II, sold Christie's, London, 26 November 1996, lot 256

Literature

Derek Roberts, English Precision Pendulum Clocks, Schiffer, 2003, p. 187, fig. 20-32

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

The present regulator was originally signed by E.J. Dent and was re-signed in 1908. The lot was accompanied by a letter dated March 17, 1908 to Mr. Dunstall from the engraver, J.H. Agar Baugh, wherein he apologies for the relatively high cost of this work and other work that he had to carry out involving adding various weights to the pendulum

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