This exhibition-quality Thomas Cole carriage clock sold for £26,000 at Gardiner Houlgate in Horsham, Bath, on October 25.
Including both a scaled thermometer and opposing manual calendar to the side panels, this is one of just two of this 7in (18cm) model recorded, the other pictured in Thomas Cole & Victorian Clockmaking by John Hawkins.
It boasts a double fusee repeating movement with platform lever escapement and a bi-metal compensation balance by Charles Frodsham, with the address 84 Strand, London, dating it to 1844-58.
A presentation inscription reads To the Rev'd. Henry Eley M.A.F.G.S. from the Parishioners on his resigning the vicarage of Broomfield, Essex, April 11th, 1861. A descendant of the Irish vendor had maintained the clock for the Eley family and it came for sale in what South deemed “immaculate condition”.
