Hello Joe,
Thank you for sending in this mid-20th century handcrafted clock, using older parts, to mearto.com for an appraisal. Thank you for the history and the great photography.
TITLE:
Cherrywood (primary), oak and pine (secondary) woods, stained and painted, two cast iron rectangular heavy weights power the clock for eight days and cause striking on a coiled gong hourly, handcrafted grandfather clock using old parts and movement, constructed in the USA by client’s uncle circa 1955. Movement with weights attributed (not signed) to E.C. Brewster or Brewster & Ingraham, Bristol, Ct. circa 1843-1852. Case made 1955 with wood from that era, except inside the hood where it dates back to the era of the movement.
PROVENANCE:
“Was told me that the works were at least 150 years old and from a mantel clock. The cabinet was made by an uncle. This clock was inherited. The cabinet was hand made by an uncle who was a master craftsman. It is of solid cherry wood except for the back panels and some of the inner pieces that hold the clock works. The clock works were from a very old mantel clock that was owned by my great grandfather and may be well over 150 years old.
DESCRIPTION:
Case: Size not provided but judging by the cinder blocks in one of the photos I will guess that the height of the clock is about 72” and the width varies from 16-20”. The form is of an American grandfather clock with the hood having a cherrywood broken arch pediment (swan-neck pediment) with unadorned rounded end terminals and deep arches centering a wooden plinth with wooden urn and spire finial. A horizontal cornice sits above the square canted frame glazed dial door with two hinges on the right and a simple pull on the left. The door is flanked by solid cherry ringed wooden pillars. The sides of the hood are solid cherry. The back of the hood has pine vertical boards backed by two horizontal wooden boards put in place to prevent warping of the much older pine vertical pieces. Below the hood there is a sharply canted cherry moulding transitioning down to the trunk section with its full length fine grained cherrywood door, the latter with a shaped triangular bail handle pull at the top. The case corners are sharp and have no chamfering or pillars. The interior of the trunk has oak backboard sections painted in red paint on the inside. Another canted moulding leads down to the cherrywood base which rests on a convex moulding and straight bracket feet.
Dial: This is a horizontal rectangular shaped patinated wooden dial plate. The main dial is enameled in tumbling radial Arabic hours (there are two five-hour markers, a simple error by the original dial painted), closed bar minute track, while the dial center has a round aperture to view the movement surrounded by two gold painted concentric circles. There is a single steel spade hour hand and the dial is missing its steel minute pointer hand. There are gilt gesso triangular shaped corner spandrel decorations with a foliate motif. The winding apertures have brass collets to prevent scratching while winding. The dial is unsigned. The back of the dial reveals the naked pine wood of the dial with two vertical rails which then fit into the hood and align with the two vertical rails flanking the movement. The vertical stiles slide in a channel made of wood and can be moved up and down. The dark patina on the back of the pine dial tells me that this is a dial from a large (30-40 inch tall) wooden mantel clock dating to the years 1940-1855. Therefore, this is a painted dial originally used on a tall weight driven clock that characterized the mantel clocks made in Connecticut, for three decades starting circa 1830. (1830-1855 to be more precise.)
Movement: NOT FUNCTIONAL. - This is a fenestrated rolled brass plate movement cast in the form of a rectangle or the letter ‘H’ with long legs at the bottom and the movement is attached to a seatboard which slides into a seat inside the case and sits between to stained pin vertical rails inside the case. The movement is unsigned which immediately suggests a date later in the years previously given (1830-1855) and the lack of a name or logo on the movement narrows the date down for me to the 1845-1855 time period. The movement is weight driven and the large size of the weights suggest this is an eight-day movement with striking on the hour on a coiled gong attached to the backboard. (actual antique tallcase clocks in america struck on an overhead bell while shelf clocks, big and small struck on a coiled gong such as found here. Of great importance, is the escape wheel which is sitting at the top just outside the front brass plate. Notice, the escape wheel with its teeth is solid brass and nor skeletonized like the other gears. Most Connecticut makers used skeletonized escape wheels. Those who used solid escape wheels with some frequency are C&N Jerome in the early 1830s, E.C. Brewster and EC Brewster & Son both firms working during the 1840s and into the mid-1850s. this includes the partnership of brewster & Ingraham (in business from 1843-1852). The largest company that used the sold escape wheel often was the Forestville Manufacturing company of Forestville, Ct. but they used a totally different shaped escape wheel bridge. Adjacent to the escape wheel is the escape wheel bridge which sit to the upper left of the escape wheel and is riveted to the upper rial of the front brass plate. The shape of the escape wheel bridge is tapered and ‘V’ shaped, solid and contains a single step down to a square brass base held in place by two rivets, the rivets placed at opposite corners of the square base. This makes me attribute this particular movement to one of the E.C. Brewster firms working in the late 1840s and perhaps the larger firm of the partnership of Brewster and Ingraham of Bristol, Ct., working together c. 1843-1852. This was a famous company that made many movements for other smaller clock companies throughout the northeast, and would leave their logo or name off of the movement so the new retailer could sign the movement if they chose to do so.
Condition: Since this is a handcrafter piece of family decorative art I am not going to comment on the condition of the clock, except to say that your uncle had a good deal of talent as a cabinetmaker and or carpenter. The proportions are a bit chubby for American clocks, particularly the American tallcase clock. These mid-20th century woodworking projects do not have much monetary value, but here your uncle has provided you with a tallcase clock that if you called a clock repair person could certainly get the clock up and running for you. That would be worth much more in monetary value that you can every get by selling this one-of-a-kind clock.
COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/87856503_craftsman-grandfather-clock (This clock sold for $20 in 2020 – same period as your clock but powered by springs, not weights)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/106808711_hand-crafted-artisan-tall-case-clock (Here is a very well-made handcrafted case from 1998 and beautifully executed that sold for $3500 in 2021)
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/92630548_american-pine-wall-clock (Sold for $50 in 2021)
~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/hand-crafted-wood-table-grandfather-clock-sign-AjE2-XQ_uNJ (Sold in 2021 for $30)
PRICING:
If you offered this clock on the clock market or even the home furnishings market today the fair market value would fall into the $200-$250 tops. It is really a family heirloom and should be used as such. The old parts that you have, if sold off for just parts, would have less value than the above quoted pricing.
I hope I added some information of help to you in understanding the clock.
Thank you again for choosing mearto.com for this appraisal.
My best,
David