Antiquarian researches

Back at the end of February, we came across (what I now know to be called) a long case clock in the foyer of our hotel, made by Smallcombe of Essex. An occasion noticed at reference 1. I have now got around to trying to track down Mr. Smallcombe, starting in the collectibles department of Epsom Library. Started off with failure as I was looking at the wrong sort of collectibles and had to get the assistant to find the catalogue number of the clock department, which was then turned up in the aisle next door to where I was looking. Lots of books about clocks in general, including what looked like the Stanley Gibbons of the clock world, Britten's Old Clocks etc.

Britten's

A guide which mainly consisted of a catalogue of 25,000 clock makers, amongst whom Mr. Smallcombe was not to be found. So one can only suppose he was a late entry to the field. And I was surprised at how many of them there were. Perhaps the big manufacturers only swept into the field at the end of the nineteenth century with it being something of a cottage industry before then. Perhaps also a bit of a side line or hobby for mechanically minded jewellers or horologically minded mechanics.

None of the other clock books included him in their indexes, but then, they were  mainly about collecting, restoring and conserving, rather than the minutiae of the clock trade more than a hundred years ago.

Google then turns up reference 2, which may be some sort of successor operation, but a website which does not seem to include a history page.

On the other hand, Google does turn up various auction and ebay records. One of which follows, with a face with the same style of face - in particular corner - decorations as the one in Ryde.

Auction one

So perhaps Mr. Smallcombe of Essex was really a repro man from the early 1900's, along with all the people making fancy brown word furniture at that time. With his collaborators at Old Charm still going strong with Wood Bros of Ware (reference 5). The hey-day of the Lea Valley furniture business, the London end of which we used to be slightly familiar with.

Auction two

And there the matter will have to rest for the moment. Until, perhaps, I develop a real interest in clocks. Perhaps via my ongoing fascination with the all important escapement mechanism. For which see the stray mention at the end of references 3 and 4. And at some point I did go as far as turning up a helpful paper from Pisa.

Escapement

I forget what the provenance of the paper was, but it was the first paper about the workings of escapements that I had come across that I could manage, at least scan with interest.

PS: in which connection, I have not found peering at the medieval clocks exhibited (at ground level) in some churches very helpful. Lots of ironwork, lots of wheels and gears, but nothing very escapement like. Perhaps with more knowledge, I would have known what to look for. I do remember now that escapements come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some very crude.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/wight-one.html.

Reference 2: https://smallcombeclocks.com/.

Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2018/09/shopping-lists.html.

Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.com/2016/11/more-trios.html.

Reference 5: https://www.woodbros.co.uk/old-charm-furniture/.