Lot Essay
Thomas Rubergall (fl. 1800-54) also held Royal Warrants from King William IV and Queen Victoria I. According to Clifton he was working at 24 Coventry Street from 1840 to 1851.
Details
A mid-19th-Century silvered and re-lacquered-brass universal equinoctial compass dial,
signed on the silvered hour ring THOS. RUBERGALL Optn. to H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence 24 Coventry St. London, and engraved IIII - XII - VIII, the folding gnomon with scroll support, folding latitude arc engraved 0°-60°, the horizontal plate engraved on the reverse with the names and latitudes of ten cities, the compass with silvered engraved rose with coloured level- and cross- bubbles set into it (lacking glass and needle), with three adjustable screw feet -- 4 3/8 (11.1cm.) diameter
See Colour Plate and detail
signed on the silvered hour ring THOS. RUBERGALL Optn. to H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence 24 Coventry St. London, and engraved IIII - XII - VIII, the folding gnomon with scroll support, folding latitude arc engraved 0°-60°, the horizontal plate engraved on the reverse with the names and latitudes of ten cities, the compass with silvered engraved rose with coloured level- and cross- bubbles set into it (lacking glass and needle), with three adjustable screw feet -- 4 3/8 (11.1cm.) diameter
See Colour Plate and detail
Provenance
J.W. SAVAGE R.E., A.J. SAVAGE R.E. (engraved names to horizontal plate)
Literature
Gloria Clifton and Gerard L'E. Turner (ed) Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London, 1995)