TOMPION WALNUT MONTH-GOING LONGCASE CLOCKS
Tompion's numbering system started circa 1682 and Jeremy Evans, Thomas Tompion at the Dial and Three Crowns, Ticehurst, 2006, p. 71, suggests clocks in the lower 300s were retailed circa 1699. Fine walnut month-going longcase clocks by Tompion appear infrequently at auction. Excluding Nos. 115 and 395, which have associated cases, the following examples have appeared at auction in recent years:
No. 302, with dial signed by Tompion & Banger, sold Sotheby's, London, 5 October 1989, lot 289, £132,000.
No. 333, sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 13 December 2000, lot 104, £311,750.
No. 318, from the Collection of the late 13th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Bt, Christie's, London, 11 July 2003, lot 73, £341,250.
No. 365, with Royal provenance, sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 15 September 2004, lot 43 £520,450.
No. 301, sold The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's, London, 4 June 2009, lot 80, £241,250.
No. 189, with replaced door cleat and later plinth sold The Property of a Gentleman, Christie's, London, 18 November 2010, lot 94, £157,250
R.W. Symonds (Thomas Tompion, His Life & Work, London, 1951, p.70, figs. 38 and 39 and p.72, figs. 42 and 43) illustrates walnut month-going clocks 292 and 302.
THOMAS TOMPION (1639-1713),
Thomas Tompion born at Northill, Bedfordshire, had moved to London by 1671. In 1674 he moved to Water Lane and met Dr. Robert Hooke, through whom he came to the notice of Charles II. From this time he held an unrivalled position in English horology. In 1703 he was Master of the Clockmakers' Company. He died aged 74 and is buried in Westminster Abbey as befits Englands greatest clockmaker.