A good mahogany stick barometer, John Russell, Falkirk, circa 1800

silvered plate signed Jn.Russell, Falkirk with hand -set  vernier, alcohol thermometer to the side and a hygrometer in the arch, behind a glazed door with chequered stringing border, the replaced tube with open bulb cistern,  the case with swan neck cresting and urn finial, the chevron veneered trunk with similar border and  central demi-lune reeded pilaster with brass Corinthian capital and turned plinth, the oval cistern cover inlaid with a satinwood fan

Nicholas Goodison English Barometers 1680-1860 Antique Collectors' Club 1977, reprinted 1985 pgs 228-236

 John Russell was born circa 1745, the son of a blacksmith and was probably trained in his father’s craft, however by his `ingenuity and industry’ he became a fine maker of clocks, watches, musical boxes and barometers. He opened a shop at the top of Kirk Wynd , Falkirk circa 1770 where he built up a good reputation, so much so that he was appointed Watchmaker to the Prince of Wales and, after 1811 when the Regency was established, Watchmaker to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. He seems to have concentrated on producing only two distinctive  types of barometer, one of wheel form decorated with panels of verre églomisé, the other a stick barometer such as the present example which pre-dated the wheel barometer. The distinctive features being the design of the silvered plate, the Corinthian pilaster covering the tube and the oval cistern cover. Only very few examples of both types of barometer have been recorded.

John Russell died in 1817.