NEWBURY.- Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions will present their Fine Clocks, Barometers & Scientific Instruments Sale which will take place at 1pm on Tuesday 20 September at Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire. The auction includes a rare timepiece by Alexander Bain (1810 - 1877) the father of electric timekeeping; pieces by luxury horology brand Jaeger-LeCoultre; as well as a stunning array of mantel, wall and table clocks dating back to the 1600s.
The star lot in the sale is an important Victorian lacquered brass earth-driven electromagnetic table timepiece (pictured), with major research suggesting it can be attributed to Alexander Bain, the Scottish engineer who invented the patent for the electric clock. Bain trained as a clockmaker in Scotland, before relocating to London in 1837. He was a regular attendee of lectures at the Polytechnic Institute and by 1840 he had developed designs for electromagnetic timepieces. Bain collaborated with the chronometer maker John Barwise and in 1840 applied for a patent for his design of timepiece driven by electromagnetic pulses to the pendulum. He would go on to show examples of his work at The Great Exhibition of 1851, and was awarded the Exhibition Council Medal Class X, a prize given for excellence in production or workmanship.
Very few of Bain’s timepieces appear to have survived and this is a rare opportunity to acquire such an important instrument. A burr maple electric master clock from the mid-19th century, with its dial inscribed Alex.R Bain’s Patent Electric Clock, No. 117, sold at Bonham’s, London on 28th June 2011 (lot 139) for £40,800. This remarkable timepiece in the sale this September carries an estimate of £15,000-20,000 (Lot 70).
Jaeger-LeCoultre fans will be delighted to find some choice pieces in the sale. This includes a ‘Fontainbleu’ model Atmos timepiece dated circa 1994 (Lot 54). This classic timepiece presented in a mahogany case has come from the collection of the late R. J. Taylor formerly of Huntsgreen Farm, near Newbury and carries an estimate of £600-900. Also from Taylor’s collection is a fine Swiss ‘Atmos Du Millenaire Atlantis’ timepiece with moonphase and thousand-year calendar, circa 2000. This model was designed by the Frenchman Robert Kohler to commemorate the passing of the Millennium. (Lot 57, Est: £3,000-5,000).
Traditional items include a fine Regency Ormolu and Derbyshire small library mantel timepiece by Vulliamy, London. An influential horologist of his time, Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy (1780-1854) undertook numerous high profile public commissions as well as supplying clocks to the Royal family including the turret clock for Windsor Castle in 1829. This black marble clock is beautifully decorated with a golden, crouching eagle, baton scrolls and gilt motifs and is dated circa 1810 (Lot 77, Est £2,000-3,000).
Further offerings are a Victorian mahogany longcase regulator Kendal and Dent, well known watch retailers and jewellers, circa 1870 (Lot 74, Est £10,000-15,000) and a fine Regency brass mounted ebonised bracket timepiece supplied to H.M. Government Committee of Transports Navy Office, Whitehall by Thwaites and Reed, London, circa 1817 (Lot 80 Est £5,000-7,000).
A key highlight is an important George II/III mahogany domestic regulator, mid 18th century, from York based clockmaker Henry Hindley (1699 - 1771). As well as domestic clocks, Hindley received commissions for several turret clocks including York Minster. His work demonstrates a highly inventive and exacting approach, with each clock varying slightly from its predecessor, ensuring constant refinement in design and layout. The quality of the finish of his work is generally exceptional and rivals the very best London makers of the period. (Lot 101, Est £15,000-20,000).
