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A rare silver pair-cased pocket…
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
22-Oct-2024
Lot No.
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Description:
A rare silver pair-cased pocket watch, maker Daniel Quare English circa 1700 4.6 cm diameter, 5.6 cm high, 5.5 cm case diameter. A rare silver pair-cased pocket watch, maker Daniel Quare. English circa 1700. Silver pair cased watch, the outer case later, the inner quite plain. Silver champleve dial with Roman hour numerals on the outer chapter ring separated by touch diamonds for the half hour. The inner ring indicates the hours with dots, the quarters with lines and the half hours with fleur-de-lys. The single blued steel tulip hand shows the hours and the quarters, there is no minute hand and there are no minute markings on the dial. The watch is signed "Quare" on a raised cartouche above the centre of the dial surrounded by scrolls with a cherub's face above. The bottom half of the dial has a raised cartouche signed "London", with a shell below and a male sphinx to the left and a female sphinx to the right. The movement has a verge escapement, fusee and chain drive. The winged balance cock is pierced and engraved with a foliate pattern and has an engraved rim. The squared foot is similarly pierced and engraved, as is the fret surrounding the regulator, but with an exotic bird's head pointing to the numbers on the regulator dial. The backplate is signed "Quare London". Reference: A Quare watch with very similar pillars and fusee stop is shown at illustrations nos. 243-4 in Clutton & Daniels. Quare was admitted as a brother of the Clockmakers Company in 1671, and was master in 1708. He was second to none in his day as a watchmaker, and his work is always handsomely proportioned. He was conservative in case design, keeping a loose fitting loop type pendant and square-ended hinges long after others has gone over to ringed pendants and curved hinges. He is credited with the invention of the repeating mechanism for watches, and was a devout Quaker. He at first refused the appointment to the office of clockmaker to King George 1 because he objected to taking the oath of allegiance, but this was overcome by affording him freedom to enter the palace by the back stairs. Quare died in 1724. Provenance: Purchased by Norman Dean at Portobello Road Markets, London, in December 1972 for 600 Pounds. Dimensions: 4.6 cm diameter, 5.6 cm high, 5.5 cm case diameter
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Unclassified