Georgian silver pair cased verge with fascinating original watch paper from Longnor, Staffordshire.

MOVEMENT : Signed and numbered (1940). Gilded verge movement with engraved balance cock. Particularly good engraving. Unusually fine for this period when engraving was often of a poorer quality. Good original condition and running well.

DIAL : 44.5 mm, cream enamel. Very good condition with just a little rubbing on the edge at 7.
This dial looks a little later than 1815 so is probably a mid 19th century replacement.

INNER CASE : 49 mm. Birmingham hallmarks for 1815 and maker’s mark SP. Excellent condition. The high dome bull’s eye crystal is perfect. The hinge is fine and the case snaps shut nicely.
The case is engraved with an owner’s name : Jas. (James) Smedley, Longnor.

OUTER CASE : 55.5 mm. Matching hallmarks to the inner. Again the case is in excellent condition with just one tiny dent on the back. The hinge is fine and the case snaps shut nicely.

Thomas Adams is listed in Middlewich (Cheshire) between 1782 and 1795. The hallmark of 1815 is right for this movement, so Adams must have been at Middlewich for longer (unless this was his son).

The watchpaper in the outer case has the Nicene creed beautifully hand written around the edge and the owner’s name in the centre : Isaac Belfield, Longnor, Staffordshire.

Longnor in Staffordshire is about 35 miles from Middlewich in Cheshire. It seems that the watch changed hands between inhabitants in Longnor during the 19th century.