English verge pocket watch with repoussé decoration Circa 1740

Back
Kenmerk
AD9508
Diameter
47 mm
Estimate
€ 1.250 - 2.500
Price sold
€ 1.100

Decorative copper watch with matching chatelaine by William Threlkeld
–
A decorative English verge pocket watch with repoussé decoration Penelope and the Suitors and matching chatelaine, circa 1740.
Copper fire gilt case, the back cover with chased decoration in high relief, decorated with engraved and chased volutes and scrollwork, turnable pendant, and large lateral hinge. Matching gilt chatelaine with repoussé decoration, length 130 mm. Enamel dial with Roman radial hours and pierced Scottie’s hands. Fine full plate movement, keywind, fire-gilt, signed, applied, florally engraved and pierced silver ornaments, chain/fusee, Egyptian movement pillars, three-arm steel balance, fine florally engraved and penetrated balance cock with mascaron.
–
Diameter: 47 mm
–
Weight: 90 g
–
Signed: William Threlkeld, London
–
William Threlkeld, English watchmaker
William Threlkeld worked in London around 1740; he may also have been a goldsmith. A will from William Threlkeld was published on November 23, 1770. He was based on the Strand, Middlesex, London. There was also a William Threlkeld, based in Minories, London, who was also recorded as a goldsmith. William Threlkeld was mentioned as a witness and victim at the Old Baily Court of London on October 16, 1745. He was also a goldsmith by trade, but there is a will from William Threlkeld Goldsmith in Saint Botolph without Aldgate, the City of London, dated January 22, 1751, has been published. It is still unclear whether this William came from the same family.
–
The Threlkeld watchmaking family was very prominent at the time, with a William Threlkeld (1) working as a watchmaker in London as early as 1630 and 1640. He moved to Brancepeth, Durham, County Durham in northern England. The sons Henry Threlkeld, William Threlkeld (2) and Deodatus Threlkeld also became watchmakers. Henry Threlkeld stayed in Brancepeth, but his sons returned to work in London. Deodatus Threlkeld also stayed nearby, working in Newcastle on the Tyne. He was with Abraham Fromanteel from 1671 to 1678trained in Newcastle. He was then 14 years old, and at 21, he became a self-employed watchmaker. His father, William (1), had died a year earlier, and Fromanteel was recalled to London by his family.
–
William Threlkeld was very likely a son of Henry and a buddy of Ralph Threlkeld. Brian Loomes also mentioned him as the nephew of Deodatus.
–
Penelope
Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, the daughter of Icarus, and his wife, Periboea. She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband, during which she has a hard time snubbing marriage proposals from odious suitors. On Odysseus’s return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus’s elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud until Melantho, one of twelve unfaithful serving women, discovers her deception and reveals it to the suitors.

Signed: William Threlkeld, London

Share this page:

Technical record

Data sheet

Explore the specifications, materials and identifying details recorded for this watch.

To top