Jason Clarke Antiques

Description

For sale, a superb Late Victorian 18 Carat Gold Pedometer with original belt clip and leather-bound case by Negretti & Zambra London.

The inch and a quarter white ceramic dial measures ten miles to the outside edge with a smaller subsidiary dial recording up to one hundred miles. Both are provided with delicate blue steel hands, and the centre dial has the maker’s name, Negretti & Zambra, London.

A knurled reset stalk at the top of the dial is surrounded by a suspension loop and original gold button hook. All exterior parts of the instrument are marked individually denoting the purity of the gold (crown and the number 18) whilst the full hallmarks can be located on the inside of the case door. This is marked to the London assay office with the date letter f, indicating the year of manufacture as 1901. The case is also stamped with the letters RJO within a lozenge indentation which further identifies the case maker as a Richard James Oliver who worked in Clerkenwell, London during this period. His mark appears on many quality pocket watches, barometers and compasses of the period so it is of little surprise that Negretti & Zambra would have employed his workshop for the task.

This beautiful and diminutive example remains with its original hinged Morocco leather case with green silk interior to the lid section, embossed in gold with a crown over the maker’s name, Negretti & Zambra and a green silk velvet fitted base to protect the instrument whilst not in use.

An exquisite example of Negretti & Zambra’s Late Victorian output and would certainly have been made for someone of significant standing during the period. It is certainly the first example executed in gold that I have had the pleasure to find and remains in complete working order.

Negretti & Zambra were a leading name in the production of meteorological and scientific instruments and had a company history dating back to 1850 although their parents were amongst those Italian emigres that bolstered the British meteorological instrument making industry at the turn of the century.

Throughout their long and esteemed history, they exhibited at British and international industrial fairs and became makers to both Queen Victoria and Edward VII. Owing to changes in the business, the firm ceased the public retailing of scientific instruments sometime around the late 1960’s and continued with a focus on the aviation industry in numerous guises until its eventual liquidation in the year 2000. They are today perhaps the most collected of the scientific instrument firms which bears testament to the quality of their work.