Brian Knapp Antiques

Description

A wonderful period 18th English bronze sundial with excellent dark patination, noting: the octagonal Plate is 9 and ¾ inches in width and about 1/8 of an inch thick. The Roman numerals are hand engraved 5/8 of an inch high inscribed within a Horary scale from III am to VIII pm. With each hour sub-divided into 10 equal units -i.e. 6 minutes. The fine and elegantly contrived Gnomon is 4 and a half inches base and 55 and a half inches vertical with the hypotenuse edge of 7 inches in length. The gnomon is set at an angle of 51 degrees which is the latitude of for London and it has recently been re-pinned to the plate underside-not visible from the fascia. Inscribed at the base of the gnomon within a 3-inch circle is the 18th century motto made famous on April 12th, 1787, when the Continental Congress of the Confederation of the United States passed a resolution for the contract coining of a national copper cent. About two and a half months later they agreed on a design by Benjamin Franklin, sometimes referred to as the “Franklin cent.” The first coin in circulation in the newly formed United States. A resolution of July 6th stated the penny obverse would have the sun and a sundial with the legend "FUGIO" (I fly), the date, and the legend "MIND YOUR BUSINESS."