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A fine and rare second quarter of the 18th century burr walnut grande sonnerie striking and repeating table clock Thomas Vernon, London

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The inverted bell top case surmounted by a handle over a moulded cornice and tall glazed side apertures, the front and rear doors with pierced carved upper quadrants on a moulded base and block feet, the 6.5 inch arched brass dial with strike/silent subsidiary dial flanked by Indian mask foliate mounts over mask-spandrels and the silvered Roman and Arabic chapter ring, each half hour denoted by a floating lozenge marker, signed between VII and V, the matted centre with a curved mock pendulum aperture and chamfered date aperture with pin-hole adjustment, the substantial triple chain fusee movement united by seven knopped pillars and with engraved backplate featuring a pair of eagles heads amongst foliate scrolls, strapwork and an oval signature cartouche with verge escapement and rack strike sounding the quarters and the hours every fifteen minutes on two bells, 48cms (18.5ins) high. FOOTNOTES Provenance: Purchased by the vendor from Derek Roberts Antiques 1999. Sotheby's New Bond Street, 22nd June 1999 lot 341.

Thomas Vernon was apprenticed in 1701 and gained his Freedom from the Clockmakers Company seven years later in 1708. He worked in Fleet Street and died in 1731. True grande sonnerie striking clocks - where the hour is struck after each quarter chime - are rare to find today. The additional work required of the clock maker made them very expensive to produce. Perhaps the best known examples are those made a generation beforehand by Thomas Tompion in elaborate ormolu- or silver-mounted cases in ebony and tortoiseshell - these are consistently among the most expensive clocks on the market to this day.