English Fusee Passing Strike Gallery Dial Clock.

Circa 1850 to 1860.

This un-restored clock has a 14” dial in a narrow surround cut from a single piece of mahogany. The cast brass bezel of convex design is fitted with a plastered in convex glass. The convex iron dial still retains the original background with touched up characters.

It seems that the previous owners had gone to a lot of trouble to retain the original background because there are a few places of “paint  Fill” as can be seen at the 8 o’clock position, and the painting of the characters is not the best quality.

The hands are nice quality being of a fine spade design consistant with the age of the clock and probably original. It carries the name of  “Henry Sleeman Penzanze”.

The clock is of the gallery type being wound from the rear and carries a superb large bell. It was probably housed in a gallery as seen in many old chapels or some other public building.

The movement, which sits on a “False” plate between it and the dial,  has beautifully shaped plates especially at the top. It has no missing parts and ticks away happily if wound.

The passing strike is given the name because it has no separate strike train; it relies instead on an arm being raised by the motion work to strike once on the passing hour. This type of strike was popular in public buildings because it allowed the hour to be witnessed without excessive interruption to whatever proceedings were taking place below the gallery. When these clocks are removed they generally have no back box to house them and consequently have all sorts of cases made for them.

Although this clock comes with a box that allows it to be swung away from the wall it is not of good quality but I include it if you want to make use of it. The same goes for the pendulum; it is not original.

So to be clear, this auction is for a nice passing strike Gallery clock (movement, dial & hands, mahogany surround, bezel and glass) with a free back box and pendulum if required.

This is a heavy clock even without the backbox, so it is going to be relatively expensive to ship buy carrier. It would therefore be preferable to arrange either a pickup or perhaps a half way meet.

Overseas bidders – Please contact for estimated shipping costs before bidding.

Zero rated bidders - Please contact me before bidding.