A fine and rare Scottish brass mounted mahogany stick

A fine and rare Scottish brass mounted mahogany stick barometer with hygrometer William Dobbie to a design by John Russell, Falkirk, circa 1845 The chevron banded case with swan neck pediment and cavetto cornice above arch-glazed door enclosing fine engraved silvered brass scale incorporating HYGROMETER calibrated 0-30 in both directions and annotated DRY/MOIST flanked by fine foliate scroll infill to arch, above arched banner titled BAROMETER and signed W m Dobbie, Falkirk over Vernier scale calibrated in barometric inches and with the usual weather observations positioned to the right of the tube, opposing spirit tube Fahrenheit thermometer similarly labelled THERMOMETER in an arch above to the left, the trunk applied with full-height Corinthian half column with reeded shaft and cast brass capital and base over slightly domed oval cistern cover, 110cm (43.25ins) high excluding finial. Provenance: Private collection, Hampshire (ref. B44); purchased from J.W. Blanchard Limited, Winchester, 14th January 1993 for £1,700. William Dobbie is recorded in Loomes, Brian Watchmakers & Clockmakers of the World, volume 2 as a clock and watchmaker born in Falkirk, 1796 and died 1845. The design of the current lot was devised by the celebrated clock and watch maker John Russell who settled in Falkirk in 1770 in a shop opposite the top of Kirk Wynd. He subsequently became watch maker to the Prince of Wales and died in 1817. The basic design of the current lot was probably developed around 1785 by Russell and appears to have be closely related to that of Benjamin Martin s Triple Weather Glass (an example of which was sold in these rooms in our sale of Mallett: Taking Stock 8th November 2018, lot 109). In his work English BAROMETERS 1680-1860 Nicholas Goodison refers to an excerpt from the Alloa Monthly Advertiser of 7th February 1845 in which it was announced that William Dobbie of Falkirk had just completed two of Russell s splendid royal barometers (now scarce), warranted identical with those made by the original constructor.. from this it would appear that Dobbie was trading on the back of Russell s reputation or perhaps even as his successor. Indeed the current lot would support the latter as the engraving to the register plate is all but identical to an example by Russell illustrated by Goodison on page 230 (plate 157).