Clocks · Clock
English grandfather clock by Richard Coppinge, 18th century
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- 18th century
- Historical period
- Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- brass
- Dimensions
- H 209 cm; W 50 cm; D 28 cm
- Auction house
- Invaluable auction listings
- Lot
- Lot DB8EA36177
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 592, Porcelain, old and modern art, antiques, sculptures, glass – November auction 2026, Auktionshaus Angerland GmbH (2026), via Invaluable
- Catalogue title (original)
- 18TH-CENTURY ENGLISH GRANDFATHER CLOCK, RICHARD COPPINGE (English)
Editor's note
Title rewritten in English from the auction house's own lot title (Dutch, German or run into the description); facts unchanged.View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by Invaluable auction listings (lot Lot DB8EA36177), this is a clock, made in England, dated 18th century. The Atlas places it in the Early Modern Horology period (1600 – 1750) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass. Recorded dimensions: H 209 cm; W 50 cm; D 28 cm. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Lot description — Auktionshaus Angerland GmbH
18th-century English grandfather clock, Richard Coppinge, A&St. Edmunds Bury, Suffolke, with seconds hand and date display, signed on the brass dial, H 209 cm, W 50 cm, D 28 cm / Standuhr England 18. Jhdt., Richard Coppinge, A&St. Edmunds Bury, Suffolke, Sekunde und Datumsanzeige, auf dem Messingziffernblatt signiert, H 209 cm, B 50 cm, T 28 cm
Historical context
Early Modern Horology (1600 – 1750)
Huygens' pendulum and balance spring transform accuracy; English makers develop the anchor and deadbeat escapements.
Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) improved clock accuracy from about a quarter of an hour to under a minute a day. The anchor escapement (c. 1670) and the long seconds pendulum created the longcase clock; London makers such as Fromanteel, Knibb, Tompion and Quare led European clockmaking, and French makers created the Boulle pendule.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Renaissance Horology
Atlas type guide
Longcase (tall-case or grandfather) clocks
The longcase clock was born from two seventeenth-century innovations: Christiaan Huygens's pendulum (1656–57) and the anchor escapement (c. 1670). A long seconds pendulum, nearly a metre long, swings with a small arc, and enclosing it together with the driving weights in a tall wooden case protected the mechanism and created a new piece of furniture. London makers such as Ahasuerus Fromanteel, Thomas Tompion and Joseph Knibb set the pattern.
By the eighteenth century longcase clocks were made throughout Britain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia (the Swedish Mora clock), France (the Comtoise from the Franche-Comté), Germany and colonial America. Eight-day movements with two weights became standard in better clocks; thirty-hour clocks with one weight and a rope or chain were cheaper alternatives.
What to look for
- Winding holes in the dial: two (eight-day, going and striking) or none (thirty-hour, pulled up by a chain).
- Brass dials with applied chapter rings (earlier) versus painted iron 'white' dials (after c. 1770 in Britain).
- Moon-phase arches, date apertures, seconds dials and maker's name on the dial.
- Case woods and style: ebonised, walnut marquetry, lacquer, oak or mahogany; regional styles from London, Lancashire, Scotland or America.
- Whether the movement and dial match the case — 'marriages' are common.
Dating clues
- Square brass dials suggest c. 1670–1720; arched brass dials c. 1715–1790.
- Painted (white) dials were made by Birmingham dial-makers from about 1772.
- Comtoise clocks with repoussé pendulums are mostly nineteenth century.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
Read next:Anchor (recoil) escapementDeadbeat escapementAnchor escapement
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