Click here to enlarge picture

31434C.L
RICHARD COLLINS, MARGATE.A VERY UNUSUAL AUTOMATA LONGCASE CLOCK IN AN ATTRACTIVE MAHOGANY CASE.CIRCA 1790.

A very attractive and unusual mahogany longcase clock. The case, typical of Kent, has a round top surmounted by a wavy cresting and three spire finials mounted on reeded pedestals. The full length trunk door has a finely chosen flame veneer, as does the panelled base. The edges of the hood have reeded brass capped columns.

The dial of the clock is its most interesting feature. It has a silvered chapter ring and seconds ring and a shaped signature cartouche within the matted centre just above the date aperture. Within the arch is a cut out for the painted automata. This takes the form of a rural scene with a windmill and a watermill, in the front of which are a man and a woman on a large planked seesaw. At the hour when the clock strikes the sails of the windmill start to turn and the door of the mill house opens. When the door opens it reveals a brightly dressed man. The seesaw is permanently moving.

The eight day movement strikes the hours on a bell and obviously has complex linkages behind the dial for the automata work. It has a steel rod and brass bobbed pendulum with two cast iron weights. There is a repeat cord inside the trunk door which sets off the automata and the striking.

Height to top of top finial: 90" (229 cms.)

Height to base of top finial: 85" (216 cms.)

Price band: D

Richard Collins is noted as working in Margate between 1780 and 1827. Baillie and Loomes note this man as a watchmaker but a longcase clock and a good bracket clock have appeared on the market in the 1990s. The eight day square dialled longcase in oak had a very finely engraved silvered centre depicting Margate Harbour and a full rigged ship. Advertisements in the Kentish Gazette on February 1780 reporting watch No. 590 lost and 23 April 1783 reporting a stolen watch signed ‘Collins Margate No. 810’ suggests that he was a prolific watchmaker if the numbering can be believed.

Click here to see video of automata.

Click here to enlarge picture