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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;afantiques, post: 238596, member: 25&quot;]Before the gradual spread of literacy and numeracy in the mid 19th C onwards, poor people would have no need of a perpetual calendar, or indeed, any calendar. The church dealt with calendars in terms of Easter, Advent, Christmas, Saint&#039;s days, fast days and festivals. </p><p>When considering the origin of old objects it is well to be aware of the social history of the periods they may have originated in.</p><p><br /></p><p>This item does not fit into a historical context any other time than its probable origin around 1900. Much earlier and anyone wanting such an item would have gone to a mathematical instrument maker (and these have been around since the sixteenth century, and were well established in the seventeenth century) and specified and bought an instrument because they would have been relatively rich. </p><p>This item is not well designed or well made, it is quite consistent with a home made object fashionned from available parts.</p><p><br /></p><p>Any claim of greater antiquity should be supported by evidence of similar objects, even examles of the use of similar styles of numbering and lettering from the period you suspect it may be from.</p><p><br /></p><p>Brass is quite reactive as a metal alloy, different surroundings can make a lot of difference to apparent aging. It also tends to get polished a lot if someone prefers shiny to dull.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t know if it is true or not in detail, but around 1970 a Central European maker produced a large number of reasonably historically accurate lantern clocks supposedly made by Thomas Moore of Ipswich. They were good enough to pass for antique in a poor light or to someone not quite as clever as they thought they were, but the problem was they looked too new.</p><p>This is the part that may not be true but should be. Brighton has a pier over a shingle beach with a big tidal range. Antique dealer or dealers would drop a clock or three off the pier into the water at high tide. A mere 6 ot 7 hours in the sea water, being rolled around on the shingle by the waves served to &#039;distress&#039; the solidly made brass and ironwork quite well, and they could be retrieved at low tide easily. </p><p><br /></p><p>Old brass is almost impossible to date without other evidence than its appearance.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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