Hello Sam,
Thank you for sending this 'Presentation' barometer/timepiece desk set to mearto for an appraisal. It will be my pleasure to try to help you today.
TITLE:
Gilt brass and beveled glass desk set of a time only desk clock (timepiece) and holosteric barometer (a wholly solid, aneroid barometer constructed without the use of liquids) as a single unit on a brass platform, Serial Number 139495 (1920s), clock made by the Chelsea Clock Company of Boston Ma. and the aneroid barometer made for Chelsea by Paul Naudet in France, Retailed by Black, Starr & Frost, New York City, N.Y. USA, circa middle 1920s. . .
DESCRIPTION:
This is a combined Chelsea Desk Clock timepiece and separate French made Aneroid Barometer set on a single gilt spun brass platform which rests on brass ball feet. Such desk sets were first seen in the Chelsea catalog of 1911. They were offered with 4.5”, 6” and 8.5” dials with Time-Only, House strike and Ships Bell striking movements. Each component was also sold separately or combined on a base and all features used heavy beveled glass and convex back covers with a simple design.
The Chelsea timepiece in this set has a simple white dial with Arabic hours, bar minutes, subsidiary seconds @6 marked ‘Chelsea’ and American steel Spade hands. The upper dial carried the name of the retailer, “Black, Starr & Frost”. The single spring clock was wound and set from below the case, hidden from the front view. The top of the brass canister is marked, 1927. The aneroid barometer measured changes in air pressure by creating a vacuum within a thin metal container and by using a series of chains and levers resulted in changes in the movement of a needle on the dial, either with rising or falling pressure. One was then able to see changes from a previous fixed reading taken on the previous day, for instance. Therefore, there were two hands for barometric pressure, one fixed with a prior reading and one moving in the direction of higher or lower pressure. In addition the French barometer also told the temperature in Fahrenheit degrees with a mercury filled thermometer at the base of the dial. The top of the brass canisster case is marked, 1924. . .
The condition of the instrument is excellent, both the condition of the clock and the aneroid barometer. Paul Naudet was the initial maker of barometers for Chelsea. since Naudet could not keep up with the great demand Chelsea resorted to other companies, e.g. selsi of NYC, taylor Instruments of Rochester Zenith watch company in switzerland and a german source as well. However, the Paul Naudet barometer remained the gold standard for Chelsea. They used a logo of the initials, "HBPN" (Holosteric Barometer Paul Naudet)
HISTORICAL;
There is a Presentation plaque attached to this desk set reading, “Presented to Walter E. Hope by the Princeton Club of New York City. In grateful appreciation of his efficient administration as President”
Walter Hope was in the Princeton graduating class of 1901. He was on the Debate team, Chairman of the Honor System, secretary and later President of his class of 1897. He entered the military service during WWI, became a Council member of the Princeton Club of New York from 1917-1923 and shortly thereafter became President of that society.
It was my pleasure to be of service to you today.
My fair market appraisal is based on actual recent past comparable sales recorded at auctions of similar Chelsea desk sets, and I have added a small premium for the Presentation. The fair market value would be approximately $400-$500 today. (Understand that the ships bell and house strike clock models bring higher prices.) Retail "asking prices" can, of course, be significantly higher and vary.
Best regards,
David