A GEORGE III WHEEL BAROMETER

Sir Nicholson Goodison noted: 'This barometer has the unique feature of an engraved brass panel on the upper part of the case which gives in considerable detail a 'General State of the Weather' (Goodison, 1977, (op. cit.) pl. 74). The younger George Adams, in his 'Short Dissertation on the Barometer' of 1790 quoted this complete 'General State of the Weather' and said that he found it among his father's papers. He does not seem to have known of the existence of a barometer incorporating it; but the paper was almost certainly a meticulous copy - reproducing even the inaccuracies of the scale - taken before the instrument was sold. The barometer scale consists of the usual 3in. divided into hundredths and is repeated on the inner edge of the chapter ring for use with the recording hand. In between these two scales are engraved some weather indications and a series of numbers from 20 (at 'Harican') through 0 (at 'Varible') to 16 (at 'Clear Sky'). These numbers and indications are meant to tally with the table engraved in the panel on the upper part of the case. There is no doubt that this 'General State of the Weather' as it is headed was devised before the dial was made. In itself it is sensibly arranged with sixteen states of good weather and sixteen states of poor weather which, with 'Variable' at zero in the middle, makes a total of thirty-three states. If the diallist had placed his 'Varible' at 29.5in., i.e. at the centre of the top of the chapter ring, he would not have made any mistakes: but 'Varible' is engraved at 29.67in. and, having divided the dial between 29.67in. and 31in. ('Clear Sky') into sixteen parts, the engraver found that he had space for twenty parts between 29.67in. and 28in. ('Harican'). Hence the dial fails to correspond with the 'General State' table, the engraver being obliged to insert 'Heavy Storm' at state sixteen and demote the hurricane to twenty. The paper quoted by the younger Adams gives not only an exact reproduction of the wording of the 'General State', but also the actual inches, to two places of decimals, with which the thirty-three states correspond on this barometer's dial. It seems inconceivable that the paper was the diallist's plan. Firstly it was palpably erroneous and secondly, if he used it, he failed to copy the words correctly. It seems that the paper was a copy of the instrument and not vice versa.'

The Fleet Street scientific instrument maker George Adams Sr. (1709-1772) was a prominent member of the Grocers' Company, serving twice as its warden, in 1758 and 1769. He was appointed Mathematical Instrument Maker to George III in 1760 and Optician to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. The business was continued by George Jr. until his death in 1795 and then by George Sr.'s youngest son Dudley until bankruptcy in 1817. The present barometer is one of three known of this type by George Adams Sr. A second example, with similar silvered brass 'General State of the Weather' scale, was formerly in the collection of Tom Craig, sold Christie's, London, 18 November 2015, lot 202; the third, with silvered brass thermometer to the upper trunk, sold Christie's, London, 8 July 1993, is in the Gerstenfeld Collection (E. Lennox-Boyd, ed., Masterpieces of English Furniture: The Gerstenfeld Collection, London, 1998, p. 169, fig. 121, cat. no. 102). Another, of the same model but with plain mahogany trunk and signed 'Watkins, London', was exhibited by Peter Lipitch, Grosvenor House Fair, London, 1995.

SAMUEL MESSER
Samuel Messer was a part of the very small, elite group of connoisseurs of Georgian furniture who formed the nucleus of their collections with the assistance of R.W. Symonds (d. 1958). The Messer Collection of furniture, clocks and barometers, brought together at Pelsham in Sussex, was essentially concentrated on the Chippendale period with particular attention being paid to untouched condition, original patination and fine quality of timber, combined with good proportions, an elegant line and a balanced use of crisply carved ornament. Many of the pieces in the collection came from other distinguished collections, including those formed by Percival Griffiths, Fred Skull and J.S. Sykes.