No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

Bicyclist A rare French rouge griotte marble, gilt and patinated bronze eight day timepiece with barometer, thermometer and automaton wheels

CIRCA 1890

Details

Bicyclist
A rare French rouge griotte marble, gilt and patinated bronze eight day timepiece with barometer, thermometer and automaton wheels
Circa 1890
Naturalistically modelled with the figure of a man in a kepi pushing a Penny Farthing with two automaton wheels, stamped MADE IN FRANCE to the rear, the plinth with moulded angles and inset with dials for barometer, time and thermometer, each with silvered chapter ring, the single barrel movement with replaced lever escapement, independent barrel with rear wind for the automaton
14¼ in. (36 cm.) high

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:
Derek Roberts, Mystery, Novelty and Fantasy Clocks, Schiffer, 1999, p.268, fig.22-34.
More correctly called the 'ordinary' bicycle, the Penny Farthing derives its name from the British penny and farthing coins of the time; the former being much larger than the latter so that the side view of the bicycle resembled two such coins placed next to one another.
The first high wheel bicycle was built in 1869 by a Frenchman, Eugene Meyer. James Starley and others later made improved versions. After 1878, when Albert Pope began manufacturing the Columbia bicycle just outside of Boston, the Penny Farthing's nearly two decade-long heyday in America began. Although superceded by other bicycles it remains an enduring symbol of late Victorian ingenuity.

More from Important Clocks and Marine Chronometers Including a Fine Collection of Industrial, Automata and Astronomical Clocks

View All