13th May, 2026 11:00
European Works of Art, Objects & Silver
40
A VICTORIAN MAHOGANY LIBRARY CLOCK, SIR JOHN BENNETT LTD., LONDON, LATE 19TH CENTURY
fusee timepiece movement with anchor escapement and maintaining power, square silvered dial with Roman chapter ring surrounded by engraved scrolling foliage and flowerheads, signed to base of chapter ring ‘Sir J. Bennett Ltd / 65 Cheapside,/London’, rectangular four-glass architectural case with rippled cornice and flat glazed top, the glazing bevelled except to rear, on brass bun feet, with pendulum, with case and winding keys, 22.5cm high
Sir John Bennett (1814–1897) was a prominent Victorian London watchmaker, retailer and jeweller. The British Museum records him at 65 & 64 Cheapside, describes him as a retail watchmaker and jeweller, notes that he was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and records that he served as sheriff in 1871 and was knighted in 1872. A British Museum catalogue note adds that Bennett came from a Greenwich watchmaking family, that after his father’s death in 1830 the family business continued under his mother, and that Bennett later sold the Greenwich and City businesses and opened new premises at 65 Cheapside in 1846. The same source records that he was secretary of the horological section of the Great Exhibition in 1851, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, and Master of the Loriners’ Company in 1877–78.
Sold for £2,000
fusee timepiece movement with anchor escapement and maintaining power, square silvered dial with Roman chapter ring surrounded by engraved scrolling foliage and flowerheads, signed to base of chapter ring ‘Sir J. Bennett Ltd / 65 Cheapside,/London’, rectangular four-glass architectural case with rippled cornice and flat glazed top, the glazing bevelled except to rear, on brass bun feet, with pendulum, with case and winding keys, 22.5cm high
Sir John Bennett (1814–1897) was a prominent Victorian London watchmaker, retailer and jeweller. The British Museum records him at 65 & 64 Cheapside, describes him as a retail watchmaker and jeweller, notes that he was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and records that he served as sheriff in 1871 and was knighted in 1872. A British Museum catalogue note adds that Bennett came from a Greenwich watchmaking family, that after his father’s death in 1830 the family business continued under his mother, and that Bennett later sold the Greenwich and City businesses and opened new premises at 65 Cheapside in 1846. The same source records that he was secretary of the horological section of the Great Exhibition in 1851, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, and Master of the Loriners’ Company in 1877–78.
Auction: European Works of Art, Objects & Silver, 13th May, 2026
Auction Location: London, UK
The auction ‘European Works of Art, Objects and Silver’ is one of our biannual live sales offering a range of ceramics, sculpture, works of art and silver from around the world, as well as objects of vertu.
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