THOMAS TOMPION & EDWARD BANGER LONDON N° 427

Object Description

A fine and rare Queen Anne period phase 3 ebony striking and quarter-repeating bracket clock of beautiful proportions and excellent provenance.
The magnificent ‘phase 3’ ebony veneered case has an inverted bell-top and a acanthus wrapped carrying handle. The case stands on four ebonised block feet and the front sill beneath the opening door is punch stamped 427.
The rectangular 7 x 8 inch gilt dial has a finely matted centre, mock pendulum aperture and typical delicately wrought blued-steel hands, with silvered and engraved chapter ring and double-screwed Minerva mask and foliate spandrels. The upper subsidiary regulation and ‘S/N’ (strike/no-strike) dials are set within foliate scrollwork and centred by the signature THO.TOMPION / EDW.BANGER/ Londini / Fecit. The reverse of the dial plate is stamped 427 to the lower edge.

The 8-day movement has hour and half hour strike on 2 bells and is fully latched with seven knopped pillars. It has a restored spring suspended verge escapement and Tompion’s bespoke pull quarter-repeat mechanism activated by pulling a cord operated from either side of the case. The backplate is profusely engraved with scrolling foliage and the signature cartouche flanked by griffin heads is inscribed THO.TOMPION / EDW.BANGER / LONDINI / Fecit. At the bottom of the cartouche there is a pan mask and the number 427 punched to the lower edge.
Date: circa 1705
Height: 16 ½ in. (42 cm.) handle down
Width: 10 ⅝ in. (27 cm.)
Depth: 6 ¾ in. (17.1 cm.)

Object History

With R. A. Lee, Bruton Place, London, 1981 and advertised in Antiquarian Horology, volume XII, June 1981, pp. 590-1.
With Asprey, New Bond Street, London, 1994/5 and advertised in Antiquarian Horology, volume XXII, Spring 1995, p. 4.
Private Collection, London, U.K.

Exhibited
With Asprey, Grosvenor House Fair, London, 9-18 June 1994.

Object Literature

References
H. Cescinsky, M. Webster, English Domestic Clocks, London, 1913, p. 284, fig. 308.
R.W. Symonds, Thomas Tompion, His Life and Work, London, 1951, p.157, fig.133.
p. 203, fig. 192. p.206, fig.197.
J. Evans, Thomas Tompion at the Dial and Three Crowns, Ticehurst, 2006, p. 79.

Object Details