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Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 22:30:58 +0100
From: Peter de Clercq <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: A problematic Tompion sun-dial
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For a small exhibiton I am presently putting together on fakes and
imitations, I came across one item in the Museum Boerhaave collection
which, unfortunately, appears to fall into that category.
In 1967 the museum bought from an Amsterdam antiques shop a large (25 x
25 cm) brass equatorial sun-dial, signed on four separate banners
'Tompion' 'Londini' 'Anno Dom' '1703'. It also carries an engraved text
'Tyme passeth & Speketh not / Deth cometh & warneth not'.
>From Gloria Clifton's Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers
(p. 280) I learn that the eminent London clock-maker Thomas Tompion
(1639-1713) is known to have sold, among others, a sun-dial. So
apparently he did make, or at least sell, this type of instrument. Can
anybody tell me more about his sun-dial production? Does any genuine
Tompion sun-dial survive?
I am not a sun-dial connoisseur, but the crude execution and the whole
'feel' of it leaves little doubt in my mind that the Boerhaave dial is
not a genuine piece, but a fairly recent imitation in pseudo-old style.
In the mid-80s, Denys Vaughan, then still in the Science Museum, wrote
in the Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society (Vol. 3, Spring
1984, pp. 10-11 and Vol. 5, Winter 1985, pp. 20-21) on a Birmingham firm
named Pearson-Page. They made pseudo-antique instruments and reached
their zenith in the 1930s. He shows one page from their 1931 trade
catalogue, which illustrates nine 'Hand Engraved Brass Sundials'. In
all, that catalogue offered 64 sun dial designs.
Since I do not have access to this or other of their catalogues, can
anyone confirm that our Tompion was indeed made by Pearson Page? Or
should it be attributed to another firm? Are other copies known of this
sun-dial?
Peter de Clercq
Museum Boerhaave
Leiden
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