Misplaced Pages

Christopher Pinchbeck

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by RexxS (talk | contribs) at 02:33, 3 February 2013 (cleanup, metadata). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 02:33, 3 February 2013 by RexxS (talk | contribs) (cleanup, metadata)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Christopher Pinchbeck" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Christopher Pinchbeckthe elder
monochrome engraved illustration of a half-length portrait of a man, in an ornate wig, holding a pocket watchPrint made by John Faber the Younger, after Isaac Whood
Bornc.1670 – November 18, 1732
Clerkenwell, England
Died(1732-11-18)18 November 1732
NationalityEnglish
OccupationClockmaker
Known forPinchbeck alloy

Christopher Pinchbeck (c. 1670 – (1732-11-18)18 November 1732) was a London clockmaker and maker of musical Automata. He was born in Clerkenwell, England, but worked in Fleet Street. His name was probably derived from Pinchbeck, Lincolnshire.

Career

In the 18th century Pinchbeck invented his eponymous alloy, a cheap substitute for gold. He made an exquisite musical clock, worth about £500, for Louis XIV, and a fine organ for the Great Mogul, valued at £300. His eldest son, also named Christopher (1710–1783) became King's Clockmaker by appointment to George III: among his timepieces is an important astronomical clock made for the King, now in Buckingham Palace.

A number of clocks and watches made by both Christopher Pinchbecks still exist. Nowadays the term 'Pinchbeck Watch' may mean a watch made by Christopher senior or junior, a watch made by another maker and housed in a Pinchbeck case, or a watch made by Harold Pinchbeck, the 21st-century family watchmaking business in England.

Idiomatic use

Because of his work with alloys, the term "pinchbeck" has entered the English vocabulary, signifying the alloy he created. Because the alloy could be used to replace gold, the word is also used to signify something less than genuine; a counterfeit; a fake; a sham or fraud.

Notes

  1. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pinchbeck

References

Template:Persondata

Stub icon

This article about an artist from the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: