The Register of the BSS has three Tompion dials recorded. Two are at Hampton Court and one in Bath. All are believed to be genuine.
One of the ones at Hampton Court Palace is the original of the one at Kew Gardens and the other (a fine dial) had its gnomon broken in the great fire at the Palace a few years ago. The missing piece was found later and restored with only a little addition needed to make the dial fuly operational. The dial at Bath was originally made to go with the Tompion Equation clock in the tea rooms there but it was mssing until 1971 when it was re-discovered. That dial is quite a simple one - presumably only for use in corrceting the clock. It is mounted on an exterior window sill to the tea rooms and near the clock. Tompion is known more of course as the most prestigious English Clockmaker. His clocks fetch astonishing sums of money though few ever come up for sale and most extant versions are in museums. He is not really 'known' as a Dial Maker. The dial copies made by Pearson Page were in my (very limited) experience really well made. So much so that they are expected to develop a value in time since so much work went into them. It would not be surprising if Tompion dials were copied but I would have thought that other makers were more likely to be copied than he. I would not have expected a Pearson Page dial to have crude execution although I have to say that Tompion's Bath dial is certainly not as well made as those at Hampton Court. I'd be interested in what others have to say on this issue. Patrick
