A VICTORIAN MAHOGANY CASED STORM GLASST.W. WATSON, LONDON, C...

Estimate

£300 - £500

A VICTORIAN MAHOGANY CASED STORM GLASST.W. WATSON, LONDON, CIRCA 1880The shallow arch white-opaque glass panel applied with a central cylindrical glass cannister filled with fluid, the upper margin inscribed T.W. WATSON, 4. PALL MALL, London over Storm, Glass and two columns of various INDICATIONS titled FOR FINE WEATHER opposing FOR RAIN, then HIGH WINDS, OR STORM and finally additional appearances for various polar currents to lower section, the bottom margin inscribed REGISTERED, 351867 set with a shallow-arched cross-grain moulded mahogany surround.52cm (20.5ins) high, 20.5cm (8ins) wide.Provenance:The Dr. Castle Collection of barometers and other weather instruments. Purchased at Dickens Fine Art Auctioneers, Middle Claydon, sale of the THE RICHARD COOKSON COLLECTION 20th April 2008 (lot 78) for £440 hammer.Thomas William Watson is recorded in Banfield, Edwin BAROMETER MAKERS & RETAILERS 1660-1900 as an optical, philosophical and mathematical instrument maker working from 4 Pall Mall, London 1878-84.The origins of this type of Storm Glass are unknown with Admiral Fitzroy in his 1863 publication The Weather Book noting that 'the inventor is now uncertain; but they were sold on old London Bridge, at the sign of the Goat and Compasses'. He studied them as curiosities and suggested that they served to indicate what he termed 'electrical tension' in the wind, hence were potentially useful as meteorological instruments. Edwin Banfield in BAROMETERS, Stick or Cistern Tube adds that such instruments are really an irregular form of thermometric barometer, and goes on to list the recipe for the contents of the tube which contains water, alcohol, ammonium chloride, potassium nitrate and camphor. The solution, once prepared, would then exhibit changes in the form of cloudiness, crystal formation etc. signifying atmospheric conditions as per the indications listed on the panel.