A FINE ENGRAVED GILT BRASS TRIPOD TABLE REGULATOR WITH BAROMETER AND THERMOMETERATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS COLE FOR RETAIL BY C.F. HANCOCK, LONDON, MID 19th CENTURYThe tapered movement comprising two sub plates each with four cylindrical pillars secured with blued screws through the backplate, the lower enclosing spring barrel and the first two wheels of the going train terminating at the centre wheel incorporating rear pivot within the apex of the humped top edge of the lower backplate, the upper section of narrower depth between the plates enclosing the upper three wheels of the train and with arched lower edge to clear the centre wheel pivot, with deadbeat escapement incorporating diamond inserts to the A-shaped pallets pivoted within a separate bridge and regulated by a heavy spherical bob pendulum suspended from the centre of the frame above, the 6 inch silvered brass Roman numeral dial engraved with four circular cartouches with the upper containing the subsidiary seconds dial and the lower three decorated with floral sprays within line-hatched foliate scroll panel infill to centre, with slender outer minute track and geometric engraved border interrupted by retailers signature C.F. HANCOCK LONDON to the upper margin, with blued steel spade hands set behind bevelled glass within moulded gilt bezel, the rear with hand setting screw to the upper sub plate and the lower margin with remote winding square set within a small shaped apron panel, the three-legged case with slender cupola-shaped upstand capped with a ball and spire finial over five downcurved supports enclosing a pendent plumb bob to assist in the levelling of the timepiece set on a swept geometric band engraved stepped cavetto moulded foot, the frame with three down-curved arms forming the dome each of tapered rectangular section engraved with foliate scrolls and terminating with blocks decorated with a large foliate bud to the outer faces and rectangular rosettes to the sides, raised on three corresponding shouldered square section baluster uprights each with line-hatched panel and waisted shoulder over tapered upright engraved with shaped pendant panels enclosing fine symmetrical foliate strapwork into a hatched ground, the bases formed as stepped blocks with conforming leaf-decorated panels and panel-hatched skirts, the circular platform base enclosing an aneroid barometer mechanism to front edge incorporating horizontal demi-lune silvered register calibrated in barometric inches and with the usual observations to margin around a symmetrical scroll engraved panel, with blued steel arrow pointer set beneath a bevelled glass within geometric engraved surround incorporating pivoted gilt recording pointer, with canted horizontal Fahrenheit scale mercury thermometer fronting sprung adjustable bridge holdfast for the pendulum to centre, and engraved cartouche to the surface behind, the caddy moulded edge with indents flanking the bases of each upright and bordered with a band engraved with continuous interlocking loops, on canted moulded skirt with projections beneath the supports and set onto a black velvet covered plinth incorporating ebonised cavetto moulded skirt channelled to take the glass dome cover over three adjustable brass disc feet.The timepiece 52cm (20.5ins) high, 24cm (9.5ins) diameter; the clock, stand and dome cover 65cm (25.5ins) high; 35cm (13.75ins) diameter overall. Provenance: The Kingshott Collection. The high-end jewellers, goldsmiths, silversmiths and retailers of luxury goods, C.F. Hancock was founded by Charles Frederick Hancock in 1849. Born in Birmingham in 1807 Hancock worked for (and became a partner of) Hunt and Roskell before leaving to set up on his own at 39 Bruton Street, London advertising as 'successors of Storr and Mortimer'. Soon after C.F. Hancock after obtained the Royal Warrant of Appointment from Queen Victoria and operated a manufacturing workshop adjoining their premises in Little Bruton Street which remained open until 1897. Charles Hancock took his son, Horatio Stewart, into the business in 1866 to form C.F. Hancock, Son and Company; he subsequently retired in 1869/70 after which the firm was known as just C.F. Hancock and Company. The business was continued by Hancock's successors and relocated to 25 Sackville Street in 1917 and still trades today as Hancocks London from 52/53 Burlington Arcade. Although the present timepiece is does not carry any visible signature stamp for Thomas Cole firm attribution can be made to his workshop through comparison with a very closely related example illustrated and described in Hawkins, J.B. Thomas Cole & Victorian Clockmaking on page 112 (and also the rear cover). This other example was retailed by Boxell of Brighton and has basically an identical case/frame but without the barometer. The dial also has simpler engraving and the pendulum bob is of dumb-bell form rather than spherical. The current lot can therefore be described as the slightly more exotic of the two. The life and work of Thomas Cole is extensively documented by J.B. Hawkins. Born in Nether Stowey, Somerset in 1800, his father, Thomas senior, was a local clockmaker who is now known to have moved his family to Taunton in around 1815. Thomas senior was a talented maker who probably taught both Thomas and his older brother, James Ferguson, the clockmaking trade. By 1821 James Ferguson had moved to London and filed a Patent for a pivoted detent escapement, by 1823 he was working from New Bond Street where he was joined by his younger brother, Thomas. Over the next twelve years the two brothers worked alongside each other and produced a series of highly complicated silver 'humpback' carriage clocks very much in the manner of Abraham Louis Breguet (leading some to speculate a connection between Breguet and the Cole brothers). The brothers then went their separate ways with James Ferguson going on to explore his technical abilities later developing a series of escapement designs including a 'resilient' lever escapement (1830), a 'double rotary' escapement (1840), a detached escapement calliper (1849) and an escapement with negative diameter (1859). Thomas Cole sought to specialise in small decorative timepieces of the highest quality. By 1845 he was advertising himself as a 'designer and maker of ornamental clocks' and in 1851 submitted examples for display at the Great Exhibition, both under his name, and on the stands of other leading retailers such as Hunt & Roskel and C.F Hancock. He then went on to exhibit at the Paris Exhibition of 1855 where his entry warranted an 'Honourable Mention', and again at the British International Exhibition in 1862 where he was awarded a medal for 'Excellence of taste and design'. Thomas Cole was elected to the Royal Society of Arts in June 1861; he died three years later of typhoid fever, at his home at 1 Westbourne Park Road, Paddington, leaving his second wife Charlotte and their three children (two boys and one girl). The originality and inventiveness of design coupled with the exceptional quality of finish ensured an enduring popularity for Thomas Cole's work, mainly from the rising Nouveau Riche class of Victorians made wealthy from the Industrial Revolution. 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