FEB 2010: CURIOUS CASE OF ROBERT LUMPKINS

The auction sale of an early rectangular shield dial, signed Robert Lumpkins, took place in Scotland. Estimated at £2-3k it sold for £8800 including the buyers premium. An important event in Scotland as it made the local BBC news and the Edinburgh Evening News. The reporting was, classically, wholly incorrect; reported as a George III clock dating from the 1797 Act etc--the usual myth, but it makes good copy for the lazy journalist. In fact, this clock dates from about 1730, before George III was born!! Loomes lists no Robert Lumpkins but there are a number of Lumpkin (singular). All of the Lumpkin(s) were working in the first third of the 18thC. The curious nature of this special clock, sold in original condition, is the nature of the alterations made over the centuries which have been extensive, the most radical of which is to move the dial up the trunk by adding a large spacer to give more drop. The movement now sits, most inelegantly, in the altered top of the trunk, most curious. It will be fascinating to see whether these very early alterations stay with the clock or if they are removed to put the clock back into the 1730 design.

Further South, at Dreweatts, the round dial by Jos Gurney sold for nearly £16000 inc buyers premium. A fine clock in good restored condition with the rare feature of a two train movement. The absence of roman numerals on the dial troubled me but the clock is correct nonetheless. Elsewhere, on the internet, a newly painted round dial signed Locke & Morris of Hythe sold for £6000.

Tavernicus has been busy buying and restoring so the archive has not been updated with the 25+ new examples of tavern clocks that have come to light since finishing the book. An early octagonal dial by Orpheus Sumart of Clerkenwell has also come to light. This rare clock has two near identical siblings; one sold by a London auction house in the late 90's and another featured in Antiquarian Horology a couple of years ago. They all have 4-wheel trains, front hung pendulums and a pulley system to extend the fall. More on this another time.

The start to the year was characterised by the dismal news that the furniture index had, yet again, declined. Notwithstanding, the trade sentiment remains bullish as in June there are about 5 major fairs and the top clock dealers are going to be out in force. One wonders whether there will be enough fresh stock to go round??

Tavernicus will be testing the 2009 knee operations very shortly with a trip to Les Arc, wish me luck. Hopefully the first copies of the book will start to arrive from India by the end of March. Bye for now.

JAN 2010 WHISTLING IN THE DARK

For most of last year, trade press reports indicated that traditional furniture was showing signs of revival and so it comes as something of a surprise that the Antique Collectors' Club Furniture Index, always published in January since 1968, revealed that the index fell by 7% with falls in all seven classes of furniture. The index is now at the 1998 level. The cause is given as poor auction results and thin trade. Hence the best and the rest syndrome means that anything other than the best is still suffering. Leaving the Georgian furniture to the kids is not what it was. They just dont want it: the Regency period is less desired and Victorian is beyond the pale.

So, dismal news for the start to the antiques year but as reported here the Fairs programme for 2010 is ambitious. Enough has been said about the January weather so let's move on to tavern clocks.

None sold or newly offerred in January but two announced. One by Robert Lumpkins to be sold in Scotland and the other by Jos Gurney which Dreweatts are to auction in mid February. More on those next month. Several hitherto uncatalogued tavern clocks have come to my attention via contacts coming through the website http://www.tavernicus.co.uk/ . Now that the book is with the printers there will be time to update the site with addtions to the Clockmakers' Archive. So, you can follow update during February.

That's it for the opening to 2010.