Bracket Clocks from Ireland
Walter Bingham was apprenticed to Edward Ashton in 1673 giving a likely birth date of 1659 or so. His clock cased in walnut with an inverted bell top is some 15 inches high and still retains its carrying handle. The backplate is finely engraved and signed Bingham Dublin.
The double-fusee, quarter pull and repeat, painted dial bracket clock by John Crosthwaite stands 21”/54cm high in a mahogany case inlays of different designs. The spandrels and hands suggest the later 18th century. An alarm is set from lower front of the dial and there is a strike-silent feature in the arch.
John Gaskin, the son of the widowed Mary Gaskin, was apprenticed to Thomas Crampton, a well known Dublin maker in the year 1725. The name John Gaskin resurfaces at 22, College Green in 1803, This maker was still there in 1832 although now at Number 40. In 1835, he was joined by Edward and the company continued to trade at No 3, Church Lane in Dublin and later at Fleet Street. Several items by the Gaskin dynasty survive including watches (one in the Smithsonian), the regency style bracket clock above and longcase clocks.
David Gordon was in partnership with William Sinclare c.1725-1730. In 1749, he was at The Sign of the Dial, Fishamble Street. He died in 1755. This clock has a mahogany bell-topped case with carrying handle. There is a break arch and semi-circular moulding, typical of Dublin, and ogee feet. The single sheet brass dial is signed on an arch boss flanked by spandrels.
The main arbor of the repeat mechanism passes through the front plate and carries a locking plate with four notches and four pins. In front of this, on the same arbor, is a pinion with eight leaves which gathers the rack with its 12 teeth. The middle of the shaft of the rack locks against the appropriate hour on the snail. Behind the snail, and fixed to it, is a pinwheel. There is a quarter snail, turned by the hour wheel. Repeating can be seen in the Video section.