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Peter Walker London Longcase clock
Peter Walker London longcase clock 1Peter Walker London longcase clock 7Peter Walker London longcase clock 6Peter Walker London longcase clock 5Peter Walker London longcase clock 4Peter Walker London longcase clock 3Peter Walker London longcase clock 2Peter Walker London longcase clock 8

Peter Walker London longcase clock

€23,800.00

SKU: 2045 Categories: ,

Product Description

Peter Walker London longcase clock

All the dating evidence for the Peter Walker London Longcase clock points to 1695 – 1700.  The period in English and Irish history known as William and Mary: Queen Mary had died in 1694 and on the death of William III (William of Orange), Mary’s sister Anne became queen of England Scotland and Ireland. Although Europe was torn apart by the Nine Years War economic growth followed an expansion in trade and international commerce. 

Peter Walker was apprenticed to Andrew Savory in 1681 and subsequently worked at Wild Street End, London (round the corner from Drury Lane). He is known to have been working in London in 1720s and died in Amsterdam in 1730. The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers has a useful website with information about early London makers

The dial shows many of the features associated with late seventeenth century clocks: The very well defined corner spandrels are Later London Cherub Head type which was popular between 1690 – 1710. The matted central zone is engraved with “peacock tail”. The subsidiary seconds ring intersects the hour chapter ring – always a sign of an early clock. The Chapter ring is highly ornamented with complex half hour marks. The dial which is 12″ across has had the clipped corners made square by the later addition of four quadrants of brass sheet.

Like all good early London clocks, there are five pillars between the movement plates: They are of the early finned type. The inside count wheel is situated between the great wheel and the drum rather than behind the great wheel.  So this is a transition type between the outside count-wheel of the very early plated longcase movements and the last of the count-wheels.  Rack striking became universal in the early 1700s although the London makers tended to be rather conservative.

The oak case is somewhat subdued, compared to the highly embellished dial: It seems to be from a slightly later date – maybe 1730s, and we suspect that it is a replacement following abandonment of the original case. It is always surprising that early clock cases tend to get mistakenly discarded as beyond repair.

Peter Walker London longcase clock

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