Estimated Price:

£30,000 - £40,000

Realized Price:

£69,600 ($126,545)

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JOHN HALLIFAX: A FINE RARE WALNUT STICK BAROMETER, BARNSLEY, CIRCA 1735

121cm 4ft high overall

6-inch dial with mask and leaf spandrels, silver chapter ring and engraved leaf scrolls to the matted centre, the arch with a circular silvered plaque signed Jno.Hallifax, Barnsley Invt & Fecit within a wheatear border, the chapter ring engraved with the ususal weather indications and calibrated on the outer edge with barometric inches from 28 to 31 divided into tenths, the inner ring numbered from 1 to 30, indicating the total number of divisions to assist with setting the recording dial, the well figured case of rich colour with domed caddy cresting and gilt-brass plumed vase finials, the dial flanked by tapered pilasters, the trunk crossbanded and divided into panels by ebony and box stringing, the central section applied with a silver recording dial and blued steel hand-set pointer, similarly veneered square cistern cover and moulded undercurved base; tube replaced

LITERATURE

This barometer is illustrated and discussed Nicholas Goodison English Barometers 1680-1860 Antique Collectors' Club 1977/1985 pg.157 where it is described as 'a particularly fine example'.

Also see R.W.Symonds English Furniture from Charles II to George II, fig.213; Edwin Banfield Barometers, Wheel or Banjo, figs 13-17; R.W.Symonds Dictionary of English Furniture 2nd edition, fig.14.

NOTE

John Hallifax, the son of the vicar of Springthorpe, Lincolnshire, was born in 1694 and moved to Barnsley in 1711, probably after his father's death, where he set up in business as a clock and barometer maker. He soon built a high reputation for the excellence of his work; the distinctive style of his barometers is closely related to the design of contemporary longcase clock cases. He died in 1750 and the high regard in which he was held was acknowledged by the engraving on his tombstone 'Whose abilities and virtue few in these times have attained. His art and industry were such as his ingenious inventions will be a lasting monument of his merit -- such as recommended him to the favour and esteem of all good men that knew him'.