John Smith, Coventry c1785

An 8-day longcase clock, the oak case with mahogany crossbanding, signed on the 12" arched painted dial Jn.o Smith Coventry.

The clock has a subsidiary seconds dial, a date aperture and strikes the hours on a bell. The 4-pillar movement has an anchor escapement and rack striking.

The dial was painted by Wilson of Birmingham; the false plate is stamped Wilson and the rear of the calendar disc stamped Wilson Birm.

The oak case has an architectural pediment with blind fret and a central finial (replaced). The freestanding hood pillars and the trunk quarter pillars are of mahogany. The hood and trunk doors have mahogany crossbanding to the perimeter, as does the applied panel to the base. The clock has an attractive blind fret below the dial, with a similar fret on the pediment.

The clock stands on small ogee shaped feet (replaced) and is 7' 8½" high including the finial.

There is a picture of the painted dial on the next page.

John Smith is recorded as working in Coventry when he took Charles Evans as an apprentice on 29 September 1785. He was still in business in Coventry in 1795. James Wilson, one of the first painted dial makers, was working in Birmingham from 1777 until his death in 1809.

Stock No. C834