John Hughes c1800

An English mahogany bracket clock with a single pad top on which the brass handle is mounted.

The clock strikes the hours on a bell and has pull repeat.

The mahogany veneered case has a good colour and scale pattern frets to the front and sides. The front door has brass edging to the sides and a brass circular bezel. The glass is convex.

Scroll down for a picture of the backplate showing Hughes' signature.

The 8-day 5-pillar movement has twin fusees and an anchor escapement.

Note the fine decorative engraving to the edge of the backplate and to the pendulum bob.

You can just see that the backplate is signed John Hughes 1801. The number 1801 could either be a serial number, or more probably in this case, the date the clock was made.

The reference books list several makers with the name John Hughes. Without knowledge of a place name it is impossible to determine who made the clock. I suspect that the clock was made in London (the movement and case are all typical London workmanship of the period) and that Hughes was a provincial maker.

In the provinces clockmakers made longcase clocks and received few orders for spring driven table clocks. To fulfil such an order it was simplest to buy a clock from contacts in London, engrave the backplate with the local man's name, and deliver to the client.

If John Hughes worked in a small town or village everyone would know who he was, hence he did not bother to engrave a place name on the clock! This is only a theory, but it's things like this that make clocks so interesting.

Stock No. C661