Very rare and curious instrument fitted with thirty-seven tu...

Hammer

£420

Very rare and curious instrument fitted with thirty-seven tuning forks, each connected to a board with string, perhaps for amplification, signed and inscribed twice 'Invented & Made by James Pettit, F.R.A.S., 1839' on the fascia board and to the back behind a hinged door, within a serpentine fronted stained wooden case (missing tambour front), 27" wide, 13.5" deep, 12" high
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*James Pettit, F.R.A.S. (Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society), born Bedford 1774 - died 1850. This maker is recorded as having a career in music, then was employed as a clerk in the Bank of England, also was an experimenter in Optics and made some achromatic telescopes