Sold on thesaleroom: Queen Anne bracket clock by London maker Francis Robinson
01 November 2019 A superb example of a late Golden Age bracket clock drew strong interest at East Bristol Auctions this week and sold to a bidder on thesaleroom.com.
Francis Robinson bracket clock – £15,000 at East Bristol Auctions.
Born c.1671, Francis Robinson ranks among the finest London clockmakers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Apprenticed to Henry Jones and the de facto lead worker in Jones’ workshop by the early 1690s, he rose through the Clockmakers' Company to become Master in 1725.
Two years later he was made Clockmaker in Ordinary to the King receiving an annual stipend of £150 at his workshop at Inner Temple Lane.
This ‘rare and important’ 20in (50cm) Queen Anne bracket clock, above, signed to the pendulum aperture, was a new discovery and in fine unrestored condition. Housed in a typical fret-carved case c.1710 was a large verge movement striking on multiple bells and a music cylinder playing two patriotic numbers: Henry Purcell’s Britain Strike Home! and The King.
It emerged at East Bristol Auctions on October 29 with an estimate of £4000-6000 from a family who had no idea of its commercial potential. It attracted four phone bidders before selling to an online bidder via thesaleroom.com for £15,000.
