A RARE GEORGE III MAHOGANY HODOMETER OR WAYWISERDOLLOND, LON...

Estimate

£800 - £1,200

A RARE GEORGE III MAHOGANY HODOMETER OR WAYWISERDOLLOND, LONDON, CIRCA 1800With 31.5 inch diameter wheel bound with an iron tyre and with six tapered spokes around a brass hub engaging with take-off gearing contained within the left hand fork of the handle assembly, the right hand fork incorporating a hinged section to allow removal of the wheel with locking via a knurled brass screw, the upper section with inverted 7.25 inch circular silvered register engraved Dollond, London to centre within concentric inner scale calibrated in Roman numeral Miles (I to X) and Arabic Furlongs (0 to 8 for each mile) to be read by the shorter of the two blued steel hands within outer scales calibrated in Poles (0 to 40) and Yards (0 to 220) to be read by the longer hand, set behind a hinged glazed circular moulded wooden bezel beneath elaborate yoke-shaped handle.137cm (54ins) high overall, 30.5cm (12ins) wide at the handle. Provenance:Private Collection.Peter Dollond is recorded in Banfield, Edwin BAROMETER MAKERS AND RETAILERS 1680-1860 as born 1730 and died 1820. He was the son of John Dollond, a Huguenot silk weaver and started business as an optician in 1750. He was joined by his father in 1752 until his death in 1761, and then by his brother, John, until his death in 1804. The family business was continued by Peter Dollond's nephew, George Huggins, who changed his surname to Dollond. George Dollond became instrument maker to William IV and Queen Victoria, exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and died 1856. The firm became one of the largest makers and suppliers of scientific and optical instruments and continued trading under various guises throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.The current lot would have been a particularly valuable instrument for surveyors charged with creating maps and plans during the latter years of the 18th century. The importance of the instrument's role is reflected in the quality of its construction with the dial in particular being finely engraved and finished. When reviewing comparable surviving instruments of this type it becomes clear that different makers such as Dollond, Thomas Rubergall, William Frazer, and W. and S. Jones appear to have sold essentially identical instruments. This would suggest that they were probably made in one workshop who then supplied them to various makers for retail. One possible candidate for the supplier would be the workshop established by George Adams, as several earlier variants of this design by him are known including an example in the King George III collection housed at The Science Museum, London. This suggests that Adams was used to making such instruments hence was best suited to supply them in reasonable numbers to other makers.