63
1916 GPO Dublin, wall clock.
A mahogany, roundhead cased, 8-day, pendulum and fusee, commercial timepiece by Astral, Coventry. The 15-
inch white enamel dial with ‘General Post Office - Dublin’ in black lettering. The movement’s back-plate stamped
with Astral’s Coventry trademark.
Astral was a trademark of H. Williamson Ltd. who opened their Coventry clock works, where this clock was made,
in 1910. There was an extensive refurbishment of the General Post Office Dublin in the years running up to 1916,
which concluded with the reopening of the public areas a few weeks before Easter 1916. These public offices and
main building of the General Post Office were destroyed in the Rising in 1916. The GPO was officially reopened in
1929 and the clocks supplied for the refitted buildings had ‘An Post’’ enamelled on the dial and an ‘SE’, Saorstat na
hEireann logo on the dial.
20 x 20 x 7in. (50.80 x 50.80 x
Literature: John Glanville and William Wolmuth, Clockmaking in England and Wales in the Twentieth Century,
Crowood, Ramsbury, 2015.
Estimate €2000-€3000 £1,710-£2,560
Large Image & Place Bid Lot 63