Clocks · Clock
A Fine English Striking Carriage Clock by John McCabe, circa 1840-50
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1840
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- England
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- brass, wood, ebonized wood
- Auction house
- LiveAuctioneers auction archive
- Lot
- Item 148203140
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 20, Important Timepieces & Decorative Arts, Cottone Auctions (2023), via LiveAuctioneers
- Catalogue title (original)
- A Fine English Striking Carriage Clock by John McCabe, circa 1840-50 (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 148203140), this is a clock, made in England, dated c. 1840. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, wood, ebonized wood. 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 — Cottone Auctions
A Fine English Striking Carriage Clock by John McCabe, circa 1840-50 Four-glass and ebonized wood Chinese influenced pagoda top, with brass handles. Dial: the foliate-engraved and engine-turned 3 3/4 inch gilt dial with Roman chapter ring, blued hands and strike / silent lever above XII, MOVEMENT: the twin chain fusee movement with platform lever escapement and balance wheel, platform lever escapement with slow/fast adjustment is mounted on the top plate and there is a pull cord for repeating the hours on a bell, engraved to backplate James McCabe, Royal Exchange, London. Literature: Derek Roberts Carriage and Other Traveling Clocks, Schiffer 1993, p. 292. Fig. 20-4 Max Ht. 10 x 7 x 6 1/2 in. Provenance: Paul Hackamac, LA chapter no. 52 or 56, study clock in LA. Purchased from renowned horology scholar Jim Cipra of Long Beach, California. The collection of Dr. William Thomas, Naples, Florida.
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern Horology
Atlas type guide
Carriage and travel clocks
The carriage clock is a portable spring clock with a balance-wheel escapement and a brass case with glass panels and a carrying handle. Abraham-Louis Breguet made early examples around 1800, and from the 1830s Paul Garnier and other French makers industrialised production, with the small towns of Saint-Nicolas-d'Aliermont and the Franche-Comté supplying movements for retailers worldwide.
Typical features include a platform escapement mounted horizontally on top of the movement (usually a lever, sometimes cylinder or Garnier's chaff-cutter), striking or repeating work, and alarms. English carriage clocks, generally larger and with fusees, were made by firms such as Frodsham and Dent. Travel clocks in folding leather cases became popular in the twentieth century.
What to look for
- A platform escapement visible through the top glass.
- Case styles: corniche, gorge, anglaise, obis or engraved cases.
- Repeat buttons on top and strike/silent levers.
- Stamps of movement makers (e.g. Drocourt, Jacot, Margaine, Richard & Co.) on the backplate.
Dating clues
- Early carriage clocks with Breguet or Garnier features: c. 1800–1850.
- Mass-produced French carriage clocks: c. 1850–1914.
- Folding travel clocks and alarm travel clocks: mostly 1920–1970.
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.
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