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Lot 59
A mixed lot of 9ct yellow gold, some hallmarked and some not, Jade brooch not hallmarked, 7cm x 1cm, tigers tooth jade pendant not hallmarked, 2cm x 1+1/2cm, clarit jug is unhallmarked, Jade circle pendant 1+1/2 cm x 2cm, pair of earrings no butterflies, large purple stone ring is a size N, signet ring with initials is a size K, gold and silver ring is a size O
Lot 134
A good early 20th century mahogany two-day marine chronometer, with association to Sir Ernest ShackletonVictor Kullberg, 105 Liverpool Rd, London, No.6611.The three-tier mahogany box with replaced top lid over recessed side handles and an ivory name/number plaque, the lower section with ebonised dust beading, the brass lock stamped O&SL. The 4-inch silvered dial with angled sight ring framing the minute track and Roman numerals, engraved with two medals and the signature VICTOR KULLBERG, Maker to the Admiralty, THE INDIAN & ITALIAN GOVERNMENTS, 105 Liverpool Rd. London, N. Subsidiary power reserve dial below XII running to 56 hours in 8-hour increments, the seconds at VI with Observatory marks and further engraved NINE GOLD MEDALS AWARDED.DIPLOMA OF HONOR SOLE & HIGHEST AWARD VIENNA with engraved Admiralty arrow and fine blued steel hands. Suspended in lockable gimbals, the numbered brass bowl with sprung winding shutter and engraved H.S.^1 to the underside. The full plate spotted movement with four turned pillars secured by blued steel screws, maintaining power with steel click and blued steel spring to the chain fusee, free sprung invar helical hairspring set on a spotted cock with diamond endstone to a cut and compensated bimetallic balance with circular timing screws, to an Earnshaw spring detent escapement. The pillar plate with repeat Ordnance Arrow. Ticking, together with the original numbered safety winding key. 18cms (7 ins) wide.Footnotes:Provenance: This chronometer was acquired by the current owner in the early 1990's from a sea captain in Cornwall. The captain was involved in the provisioning of Arctic and Antarctic voyages. This chronometer was purchased by the Royal Observatory in 1901 and Greenwich records have shown that it was used by Ernest Shackleton in 1921, likely as part of the Quest expedition of Antarctica in 1921-1922. This expedition was deemed 'the last of the great voyages of discovery' and was also the last voyage that Shackleton would undertake. Originally conceived as an Arctic voyage to travel north of Alaska, a last-minute loss of funding meant that the expedition could not go ahead. John Quiller Rowett, who had agreed to partially fund the Arctic voyage, remarkably agreed to fund the entirety of a new, replacement mission - but it had to be south-bound to the Antarctic. This chronometer was collected by Shackleton from Greenwich 21 July 1921 and the voyage began on 17 September of that year. Shackleton was unwell on board the Quest, and unfortunately, by the time the ship reached South Georgia, he was quite ill. He died of a heart attack shortly after arriving on 5 January 1922. He was buried on South Georgia as it was not feasible to send his body back to the U.K. Despite a double attempt by the remaining crew over the next year to reach Antarctica, they were not successful. The chronometer was recorded as being returned from Portsmouth to Greenwich in December 1925 and was sent to Kullberg for servicing the following year.Kullberg 6611 was well-acquainted with Antarctic conditions, having accompanied Dr. Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911–14. Dr. Douglas Mawson had previously been the geologist on Shackleton's 1907 Nimrod expedition and had been part of the group to first reach the magnetic South Pole. He collected the chronometer from Greenwich on 24 July 1911, and the Australasian Antarctic Expedition began in December of that year. Unlike previous expeditions, this voyage wasn't concerned with geographical exploration, but natural sciences exploration. Their goal was to increase the knowledge of Antarctica as a location; what its weather, flora, fauna, and geology were like. In all, 3,000 km of coastline were investigated over two winters. Dr. Mawson would publish an account of the expedition in 1915; it is interesting that he notes 'It was necessary for two men to remain behind at the base to keep the meteorological records, to wind chronometers, to feed the dogs and to bring up the remainder of the stores from the edge of the ice cliff.' In addition to Kullberg 6611, there were two sideral chronometers from the Adelaide Observatory, in addition to a variety of other chronometers and half-chronometers, some specially made for the voyage. For the majority of the expedition, the Australian army officer and expedition astronomer, Robert Bage, was in charge of the chronometers. Two chronometers were also carried by Mawson and his exploration party when they explored Antarctica with dog sleds, though it is not known which chronometers were taken with them.Kullberg 6611 was returned to Greenwich in 1914; it was quickly serviced by Kullberg and then installed on the HMS Honeysuckle on 24 May 1915. This ship was one of a group of floral-titled ships known as the 'Flower Class', which served as minesweepers and later as convoy escorts during the First World War. The HMS Honeysuckle was deployed around Turkey and was manned by mostly Australian and New Zealander crew. The chronometer was returned to Greenwich in 1920, quickly serviced, and then collected by Shackleton, as noted above. After the Shackleton voyage, it was extensively serviced, before being sent to Hong Kong for five years. The Greenwich records of its use end in 1936. We are indebted to Mike Dryland of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, for accessing the records for Kullberg 6611.Mawson, D. (1915) The Home of the Blizzard; Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914, 2015 Edition, Kingston: Australian Antarctic Division.Australian Antarctic Program (2021) Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911-14. Available at: https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/history/exploration-and-expeditions/australasian-antarctic-expedition/Australian Government Department of Climate Chane, Energy, the Environment, and Water: Australian Antarctic Division (2021) Home of the Blizzard. Available at: https://mawsonshuts.antarctica.gov.au/The Great War Forum (2012) HMS Hydrangea. Available at: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/180087-hms-hydrangea/Australian War Memorial (2022) At Sea, Turkey. 19 December 1915. The HMS Honeysuckle with the Anzac staff on board. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/G01305MacGregor, C. (2020) Heading South: Mawson and the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. Available at: https://australian.museum/learn/collections/museum-archives-library/historic-expeditions/heading-south/Ashworth, J. (2022) Shackleton's Final Expedition: Reuniting Quest's Collection 100 Years Later. Available at: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/january/shackletons-final-expedition-reuniting-quests-collection-100-years-later.htmlThis lot is subject to the following lot symbols: Y ФY Subject to CITES regulations when exporting items outside of the EU, see clause 13.Ф This lot contains or is made of ivory and cannot be imported into the USA or any country within the EU.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Lot 139
An extremely rare and fine mid-19th century brass-bound rosewood two-day marine chronometer with Hartnup balance. Previously with the Time Museum, and more recently exhibited at Prescot MuseumWilliam B Crisp, London, Number 381The three-part case with missing cartouche to the top lid, the centre section with brass flowerhead button above an ivory signature plaque, Hartnup Balance Willm. B. Crisp London No 381, the lower section with inlaid brass escutcheon with a blank ivory number plaque and campaign handles. Internally, the case has a full-length hinge, gimbal lock and safety winding key secured in a quadrant. The centre section applied with a label for Thomas Petley, Chronometer, Watchmaker and Nautical Optician, Sydney, New South Wales and D,McGregor & Co., Greenock, ScotlandThe 3.75-inch silvered dial signed across the centre Willm Crisp Maker to the Admiralty 81 St.John Street Rd London No 381 with Arabic minute ring framing the Roman chapters, with gold spade hands, the subsidiary power reserve dial at XII running from 0-56hours in 8-hour increments with instruction to wind at 24, the large observatory-style seconds dial between V-VII with blued steel hands. The spotted full plate movement with four ringed pillars and maintaining power to the reverse chain fusee, free sprung blued steel helical balance spring with diamond endstone to an Earnshaw type escapement with Hartnup balance, sitting in a weighted, gimballed bowl. Ticking, together with a Tipsy key. 20cms (7.5ins) highFootnotes:Exhibited 'Your Time', an exhibition by the Northern Section of the Antiquarian Horological Society at Prescot Museum, February-April 2008; Williamson Museum & Art Gallery, Birkenhead February-April 2008. Exhibit P18.According to the exhibition, the movement came from Joseph Preston, who was working out of Prescot. Joseph Preston were well-known watch and chronometer movement manufacturers and their mark 'J.P.' was considered a hallmark of quality. Although based in Prescot, they formed a key link in the national supply chain that saw parts made largely in the North of England, and the West Midlands and assembled into a rough movement, before being sent to London for finishing and sale. A sizeable part of Preston's client base was in London, and to a lesser extent, Coventry.The firm was founded by Joseph Preston in 1829 at 19 Eccleston Street Prescot, and renamed 'Joseph Preston and Sons' in 1840, when his sons Thomas and Joseph began working there full time. In 1891, at the age of 16, the Prestons' nephew, Harry Pybus, began working in the shop. He worked at, and learnt, the twenty separate trades employed in the shop, that resulted in a complete, unfinished watch or chronometer movement. Pybus took over the shop on his uncles' death, though he kept the name 'Joseph Preston and Sons'. During the second world war, it was noted that, having no other employees, Pybus managed to make several two-day chronometer movements entirely on his own, in a shop which lacked electricity. He would run the shop for nearly sixty years, until his death in 1952; anecdotally he was said to be in the middle of cutting watch escape pinions when he died. In his obituary, he was hailed as 'the last of the old Prescot watchmakers'. The shop was demolished shortly after, making Joseph Preston one of the last independent horological manufacturers to shut in Prescot, and area long famed for supplying high-quality movements.The firm supplied a large range of movements to a varied customer base, which included Mercer, Kullberg, and even Patek Phillipe. William crisp was another regular customer. The Hartnup balance was developed by John Hartnup, the first director and founder of the Siderial Liverpool Observatory, established in 1843. The Hartnup balance corrects for middle-temperature error in chronometers. The middle temperature error refers to the error produced in standard compensation balances: The balance is designed to account for an extreme high temperature error and an extreme low temperature error, however, between this range the chronometer gains a bit, and loses a bit when exposed to temperatures outside this range. This means that when a chronometer is exposed to a wide range of temperatures the rate will change much more then when the temperature exposure range is small.Hartnup's solution, likely created around 1847 and actually made by William Shepherd of 13 Bath Street Liverpool, involved laminated cross-bars connecting a fairly standard compensation rim; the outer rim would compensate for extremes and the inner cross-bars would moderate the middle temperature. Hartnup did not patent this balance, partially as he was eager to see it taken up by many makers as an improvement in timekeeping generally, but also because he didn't think that, as a Director of the Observatory, he could profit from work done during his tenure. The balance was never widely adopted, not least because it took twice as long to manufacture as a standard compensation balance did, meaning that chronometers with a Hartnup balance are quite uncommon. Penney, D. (2007) 'Evidence from the Transient', Antiquarian Horology, Vol. 30 (2), pgs. 177-179Aked, C. (1989) 'Joseph Preston and Sons', Antiquarian Horology, Vol. 18 (3), pgs. 298-306Law, R. J. (1990) 'Joseph Preston & Sons', Antiquarian Horology, Vol. 18 (5), pgs. 551-552British Horological Institute (2001) 'Branches: Midlands', Horological Journal, Vol. 143 (8), p. 278Smith, R. W. (1983) 'The Hartnup Balance', Antiquarian Horology, Vol. 14 (1), pgs. 39-45This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: Y ФY Subject to CITES regulations when exporting items outside of the EU, see clause 13.Ф This lot contains or is made of ivory and cannot be imported into the USA or any country within the EU.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Lot 32
A fine and rare late 19th Century French porcelain-panelled Carriage clockVictor Reclus, ParisThe Anglaise Riche case with ribbed handle over rectangular inspection panel and repeat button, set to the corners with elaborate silvered and gilt caryatide columns framing the three polychrome panels depicting Classical women and putti, on a stepped base. The white Roman chapter ring with blued steel fleur de lys hands. The two-train movement with rack striking on a gong and a silvered English lever platform escapement with timing screw adjusted balance. Ticking and striking. Together with a double-ended winding key. 21cms (8 ins) highFootnotes:An identical model, also by Reclus and numbered 127, was Lot 138 of Christie's Dr. Eugene and Rose Antelis Collection of Important French Carriage Clocks, 26 November 1998. Victor Reclus was born on 30 September 1831 in Bergerac to Marie Venencie and Antoine Tonin Reclus, the latter of whom was a cutler. He moved to Paris with his partner, Virginie Louise Leroy, at some point before 1846, the year their only child, Henriette Clarisse Amélie, was born. In 1856 he opened up a horology shop on the Rue Dauphine, and that March he filed his first patent 'For a type of meter for carts'. This meter was for use with horse drawn carts, inevitably having a limited amount of commercial success. He and Virginie were also married that same year.He moved his workshop to the Rue des Lavandières-Sainte-Opportune in 1858, then the Rue du Temple in 1860. Concurrently he took out patents for, among other things, an aerial telegraphy system (Feb. 1857) and an alarm clock (Aug. 1858). At his height, he was employing a few dozen workers in his workshop in Paris. He developed a trademark for his clocks and watches (a sunburst with the initials VR) and a separate one for his barometers (an R in a lozenge shape). In addition to the Paris workshop, he seems to have had a second home in Joinville-le-Pont. He also became politically active; in September 1869 he joined his workers in petitioning for the protection from arrest for a group of striking miners in Loire. The year before he joined the Charity board of the Palissy à Joinville-le-Pont town council. It is possible he continued his political involvement; a town councillor from Joinville was elected in 1869, with the name Pierre Victor Reclus. Pierre Victor Reclus remained part of the town council until 1871. Various mentions of 'Reclus' continue to be made in the town until the turn of the century; 'Reclus' is always involved in campaigning for or supporting the rights of workers and the poor. Whether this is the same Reclus remains unknown.He entered work in two of the Universal Exhibitions, 1878 (where he won two silver medals) and 1889 (where he won a gold). Virginie died in 1884, and it was around this time that he became increasingly interested in electric horology, and electricity in general. On 1 October 1886 he took out a patent in London (Patent #12,491) for 'Improvements in Electric Clocks'. This patent involved a four-arm cam on the escape wheel receiving impulse from two springs held electrically taught, thus imparting 'constant force'. This same year, he was admitted to the Sociétés d'Horlogerie et des Chambres Syndicales, after being recommended by Paul Garnier. In the journal announcing his membership, he described his patent at length, and included diagrams. Reclus' address was listed as 114 Rue de Turenne; when he came to renew two of his patents in 1899, he was still living at this address. In 1896, his electric clock modifications were part of the International Society of Electricians exhibition. He demonstrated an electric bell ringer he had devised, whereby an electrical impulse would trigger the bell at the correct time. He offered a set of four small electric bells, which would 'chime' the quarters and 'strike' the hour. These were for domestic use. He then had a second, larger device which could be used to sound bells of 50kg and above. By this point, his name had become synonymous with electric horology in France, so much so that the 1890 Dictionary of Industry and Arts included special entries for his electric inventions.In 1897 he was on the electric lighting admissions panel for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. By 1905, he had moved back to the Dordogne region he left as a teenager and was apparently still practicing horology. He is listed in the 1920 census for the region, but no reference to him has been found after 1926.Sociétés d'Horlogerie et des Chambres Syndicales (1878) 'Annonces', Revue Chronométrique, 256 Numéro.Hope-Jones, F. (1929) 'Electrical Impulse Dial Movements', The Practical Watch and Clock Maker, Vol. 2 (1), pg. 72.Sociétés d'Horlogerie et des Chambres Syndicales (1886) 'Chambres Syndicale de l'Horlogerie de Paris', Revue Chronométrique, 356 Numéro, pg. 262.Reclus, V. (1886) 'Nouveau Système de Pendule Électrique', Revue Chronométrique, 356 Numéro, pgs. 65-72.Allison Brothers (1886) 'Patents Connected with the Manufacture of Watches and Clocks', The Horological Journal, Vol. 29 (3), pg. 45.Hope-Jones, F. (1929) 'Self-Wound Clocks', The Practical Watch and Clock Maker, Vol. 1 (11), pg. 592.Tharel, A. (1891) Dictionnaire, Encyclopédique et Biographique de l'Industrie et des Arts Industriels: SupplémentParis: Librairie des Dictionnaires.Ministre du Commerce, de l'Industrie, des Postes, et des Télègraphes (1901) 'Décret qui proclame 185 Cessions de Brevets d'Invention:156,157', Bulletin des Lois de la République Française, 12th series (63rd tome), pg.1643.Bergonié, J. (1896) 'Exposition de la Société Internationale des Électriciens de Paris',Archives d'électricité médicale, pg. 194.Willot, B. (2018) Victor Reclus, Inventeur et Homme de CÅ“ur. Available at: https://polmoresie.over-blog.fr/2017/09/victor-reclus-inventeur-et-homme-de-coeur.htmlThis lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
Lot 57
A good late 18th century mahogany quarter chiming longcase clockJames Allen, LondonThe pagoda top with ball and spire finials sitting on ribbed mouldings, the centre with shaped apron over silk backed sound frets mounted on brass stop-fluted Doric columns over a long door with flame veneer flanked by matching quarter columns on a doubled stepped plinth with applied moulded panel. The 12 inch arched brass dial with strike/silent over a Roman and Arabic chapter ring and scroll spandrels framing the matted centre with recessed seconds and applied arched signature riband. The movement with heavy plates united by five large knopped pillars, the going train with anchor escapement, the original pendulum with brass strip and lenticular bob suspended from a substantial back cock on the backplate, striking the hours on a bell and chiming the quarters on eight bells and hammers. Together with three brass-cased weights 2.55m (8ft 5ins) high. Footnotes:James Allan, also spelt Allen, was born in Forres, Scotland likely around 1739. He seems to have been initially apprenticed to a blacksmith in Forres, and after completing his apprenticeship he moved to London. By chance, he shared a house with a sextant maker, and apparently Allan would assist the sextant maker in the evenings. Allan must have preferred instrument making to blacksmithing, as by 1786 he was making Borda circles, likely with Jesse Ramsden, whom he appears to have remained close to throughout his life. In 1790, he was listed as working at 76 New Gravel Lane, before moving to 12 Blewit's Buildings, Fetter Lane around 1800, where he would remain for the rest of his career. In 1809, he is listed in the trade directories at this address as a 'divider of mathematical instruments'. In 1816, he published his own method for making highly accurate screws and was subsequently awarded a silver medal for his screw making, by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce. This same organisation gave him several awards throughout the years: two gold medals, one for his self-correcting dividing engine (1810) and another for a theodolite of his own manufacture (1815), as well as another silver medal for a new Reflecting Repeating circle (1811). On 3 February 1820, he received another award, of £100, this time from the Board of Longitude for his 'Self-Correcting Dividing Engine' used for the manufacturing of theodolites, sextants, etc. This engine is now in the Science Museum in London. It seems that shortly after this he moved back to Forres, where he died a year later, on 7 September 1821, his obituary being published in the Inverness Courier. James Allan would later be mentioned by Thomas Reid, in his Treatise on Clock and Watch Making: Theoretical and Practical, as a late watchmaker of London and a 'master in the art of dividing mathematical and astronomical instruments'.One of his sons, also James, served an apprenticeship to the well-known instrument maker Charles Fairbone, then worked in Ramsden's shop between 1813-1816, before transferring to Matthew Berge's shop located at 196 Piccadilly. In 1819, he and Nathaniel Worthington, a former apprentice to both Berge and Allan (Snr.) inherited the business on Berge's death, setting up the partnership of Worthington and Allan. Interestingly, James Allan, of 196 Piccadilly, was enrolled at the London Mechanics Institute between June 1825 to March 1826. The partnership between Worthington and Allan continued until 1835, after which point Worthington assumed full control, until his death in 1851. Whether Allan died in 1835, or the partners simply had a falling out, remains unknown.Another son, John, seems to have worked with his father between 1790-1794, before he established himself as a marine instrument maker in Baltimore, having left the UK in 1807. His adverts boasted that all the instruments were made using his father's improved dividing engine.Reid, T (1832) Treatise on Clock and Watch Making: Theoretical and Practical. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea.McConnell, A. (2016) Jesse Ramsden (1735–1800): London's Leading Scientific Instrument Maker. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.de Clercq, P. R. (1985) 'Nineteenth-Century Scientific Instruments and their Makers: Papers presented' Fourth Scientific Instrument Symposium. October 1984.The British Antique Dealers' Association (2022). Worthington & Allan-London. Available at: https://www.bada.org/object/worthington-allan-london-outstanding-flat-wall-bow-front-mahogany-stick-barometer-circa-1820Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser. Friday 25 February 1820Inverness Courier.Thursday 13 September 1821Grace's Guide (2020) James Allan (London). Available at: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/James_Allan_(London)#cite_note-3 This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: TPTP Lot will be moved to an offsite storage location (Cadogan Tate, Auction House Services, 241 Acton Lane, London NW10 7NP, UK) and will only be available for collection from this location at the date stated in the catalogue. Please note transfer and storage charges will apply to any lots not collected after 14 calendar days from the auction date.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com
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