Isle of Wight firm Island Auction Rooms established a new record for a clock sold by a UK provincial auctioneer when this remarkable longcase took £240,000 on August 7.
The 7ft 9in (2.38m) high clock from the Golden Age of English
clockmaking combines a year-going striking movement by the
celebrated maker Daniel Quare (c.1647-1724) with a première partie
brass, pewter and tortoiseshell boulle case inlaid with Berainesque
designs.
It was last sold by Winchester dealer G.H. Bell (now Gerald E.
Marsh Antique Clocks) in the early 1970s to the clock connoisseur
from the Isle of Wight whose family offered it for sale.
The late owner had tried to sell it through Christie's in 1987,
but it failed to make its reserve (it was bid to £78,000).
The estimate on August 7 - a sale timed to coincide with the
influx of boating enthusiasts for Cowes Week - was
£150,000-250,000.
It attracted competition from Gerald E. Marsh - as bidding
reached £220,000 proceedings were interrupted as he spoke to his
client - but the winning bid came from a private collector from the
Isle of Man.
The price comfortably beats the £135,000 achieved by Tennants of
Leyburn for a burr walnut longcase c.1740 by George Graham in July
2006.
The buyer's premium was 15 per cent.
Follow us on:
