A GEORGE III MAHOGANY MERCURY STICK BAROMETERDOLLOND, LONDON, CIRCA 1775With open triangular pediment above rectangular brass vernier scale calibrated in barometric inches, with the usual observations and signed Dollond, LONDON near the upper margin, the flame-veneered caddy-moulded trunk inset with visible tube over replaced hemispherical cistern cover to the rounded base incorporating brass level adjustment screw to underside.98cm (38.5ins) high excluding finial, 13.5cm (5.25ins) wide.Peter Dollond is recorded in Banfield, Edwin BAROMETER MAKERS AND RETAILERS 1680-1860 as born 1730 and died 1820. He was the son of John Dollond, a Huguenot silk weaver and started business as an optician in 1750. He was joined by his father in 1752 until his death in 1761, and then by his brother, John, until his death in 1804. The family business was continued by Peter Dollond's nephew, George Huggins, who changed his name to Dollond. George Dollond became instrument maker to William IV and Queen Victoria, exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and died 1856.