A RARE GEORGE III SMALL SCUMBLED PINE LONGCASE TIMEPIECE WIT...

Estimate

£1,000 - £1,500

A RARE GEORGE III SMALL SCUMBLED PINE LONGCASE TIMEPIECE WITH ALARMSARJENT, LONDON, CIRCA 1795The four pillar movement with anchor escapement regulated by a lenticular bob pendulum with an effective length of fifteen inches to the going train, set beside a weight-driven alarm mechanism with verge-type crownwheel engaging with a pallet arbor fitted with a T-shaped hammer for sounding on a large bell positioned above the plates, the 8 inch single sheet silvered brass Arabic numeral dial with alarm setting disc to centre and Arabic fifteen minutes to outer track, with pierced steel hands beneath arch engraved SARJENT, Watch Maker, To the Prince of Wales, Jermyn Street, ST' JAMES's, the scumbled pine case grained and painted to resemble mahogany with ogee and cavetto moulded break-arch top over hinged glazed hood door flanked by canted angles and rectangular side windows, the trunk with slender cavetto throat moulding over rectangular ogee-edged door, on plinth base with cavetto top moulding and caddy-moulded skirt.192cm (75.5ins) high, 33cm (13ins) wide, 19cm (7.5ins) deep.Provenance:The Dr. Castle Collection. Purchased from Geoffrey Greetham, Willingham, Cambridge, 26th May 1976 for £440.Joseph Sargent is recorded in Baillie, G.H. Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World as working 1794-1820. Other sources indicate that he worked from 106 Jermyn Street up until 1818.The present timepiece would have almost certainly been supplied for 'backstairs use' hence the fairly modest scumbled pine case and provision of a loud alarm mechanism to announce the start of the working day to the household staff.