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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Peculiar timepiece [photos, speculation]
« on: July 20, 2012, 03:07:28 am »
Thanks everyone! I appreciate your comments.
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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Peculiar timepiece [photos, speculation]
« on: July 19, 2012, 08:02:07 am »
I see satellite dishes in the photograph but not the clock face. they aren't the same photograph, it's just the same building.
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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Peculiar timepiece [photos, speculation]
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:36:31 pm »
Thanks, don't worry about it, I appreciate you looking into it! I'll keep checking back. (:
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Antique Questions Forum / Re: Peculiar timepiece [photos, speculation]
« on: July 18, 2012, 02:04:58 pm »
Thank you! I wasn't sure as to the city pictured in the timepiece's face photo, but I struck gold when I took a closer look at what appeared to be further writing beneath the 'Swiss Made' text.
The inscription [barely visible] beneath 'Swiss Made' starts as such: "Perhaps the greatest work of the historian al-Hamdani..." but the rest [if it does continue] is impossible to view without dismantling the piece. A quick Google search yielded an Arab historian of that name/title: Abū_Muhammad_al-Hasan_al-Hamdānī
This historian resided in Sana'a for a time, and a google search of that city's minarets yielded a number of photographs, one of which shows a minaret identical to the one on the timepiece:
So I believe the city is Sana'a!
The inscription [barely visible] beneath 'Swiss Made' starts as such: "Perhaps the greatest work of the historian al-Hamdani..." but the rest [if it does continue] is impossible to view without dismantling the piece. A quick Google search yielded an Arab historian of that name/title: Abū_Muhammad_al-Hasan_al-Hamdānī
This historian resided in Sana'a for a time, and a google search of that city's minarets yielded a number of photographs, one of which shows a minaret identical to the one on the timepiece:
So I believe the city is Sana'a!
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Antique Questions Forum / Peculiar timepiece [photos, speculation]
« on: July 18, 2012, 09:31:20 am »
Good day to you all. I have come to acquire this rather odd little timepiece and I was wondering if any of you could shed some light as to its possible age and origins.
Firstly, here are some photographs:
Now, I have made some inquiries but I am a bit out of the way as I live in the countryside. It has been suggested by a local jeweller that it would have been mounted upon a saddle, and obviously the clock face points to an Middle Eastern origin, so perhaps a camel saddle. I am waiting to hear back from a museum in London.
The fact that the face features a colour photograph certainly seems to suggest a relatively recent date. As you can see, the face has "Swiss Made" written upon it, and there is some additional text beneath it that I could not accurately capture with my camera. I'll try and make it out in the meantime.
The case is almost certainly composed of brass and the buckled and studded strap is genuine, supple leather. I honestly dare not attempt to prize the timepiece open to look at the internals, as there does not seem to be any obvious way to do so, but the clock does wind and it keeps good time when wound. It is fully functional.
The globular glass is heavy and seemingly well crafted. I know I have not seen anything like it in my admittedly occasional forays into trading antiques, so if anyone here can offer me some information, speculative or definitive, I would be very grateful. I hope it is not too common a sight to the more travelled antique/collectable dealer.
Firstly, here are some photographs:
Now, I have made some inquiries but I am a bit out of the way as I live in the countryside. It has been suggested by a local jeweller that it would have been mounted upon a saddle, and obviously the clock face points to an Middle Eastern origin, so perhaps a camel saddle. I am waiting to hear back from a museum in London.
The fact that the face features a colour photograph certainly seems to suggest a relatively recent date. As you can see, the face has "Swiss Made" written upon it, and there is some additional text beneath it that I could not accurately capture with my camera. I'll try and make it out in the meantime.
The case is almost certainly composed of brass and the buckled and studded strap is genuine, supple leather. I honestly dare not attempt to prize the timepiece open to look at the internals, as there does not seem to be any obvious way to do so, but the clock does wind and it keeps good time when wound. It is fully functional.
The globular glass is heavy and seemingly well crafted. I know I have not seen anything like it in my admittedly occasional forays into trading antiques, so if anyone here can offer me some information, speculative or definitive, I would be very grateful. I hope it is not too common a sight to the more travelled antique/collectable dealer.
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