Hello Ronald,
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for the appraisal of this Hall clock. I shall get this done today.
TITLE:
Mahogany with inlay, triple barrel spring, eight-day time, striking and quarterly Westminster chiming, (grandmother size) small Hall clock, the Aberdeen model, Ref. 7052/103, made by Junghans, Württemberg, 2nd quarter of the 20th century.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE: 69.5-inch x 13-inch x 10-inch (would be 72” with proper finial + grandmother clock size is 60-72”), mahogany Hall clock in the classical form with concave-moulded, close to upright broken-arch pediment with curled terminals centering a wooden plinth meant for an acorn type wooden finial. Both arches are bordered by a concentric shaped, lighter stained, veneered border with an undecorated tympanum with an arched cornice above the arched glazed and hinged dial door with simple brass pull. The door is flanked by two free standing block and turned mahogany colonnettes. The sides of the hood have pierced wooden ‘rosette’ fretwork to allow chiming sounds into the room more easily. A concave moulding transitions down to the trunk section with a full length door with rounded arch-shape top and central patera inlay made in the English style. The inside of the case has the chime/silent function dial attached to the backboard and holding a clock key. An ogival shaped moulding leads down to the square base with a light color veneered cross-banding around the circumference and in the center, a floral inlay. The case rests on straight bracket feet with shaped apron.
DIAL: An unsigned, ivory-color painted, arched dial plate with silvered enameled Arabic hour chapter ring, the hours in circular cartouche form and a closed minute track to the outside. The gilt dial center if formed like the spokes of a wheel with steel Chippendale-style, fenestrated rococo hands. There are dart-shaped streaks decorating the spandrels and, in the lunette, a serene Chinoiserie land and seascape with a Chinese sailboat on a pond. Palm trees are seen in the foreground and snow-capped peaks in the background. (All of the variations of this dial are in the Asian (Chinese/Japanese) style . . . . . .
MOVEMENT: A Junghans 103/80 movement. It is a square brass plate movement with tubular pillars screwed at the back plate, not pinned (a post 1900 feature). There is an anchor escapement, lantern pinions used rather than cut steel (a German feature), three-barrel springs power this movement for eight days, striking the hour with a chord and striking partial Westminster chimes on the quarters and a full set of Westminster chimes on the hour. Striking is via rack and snail using four metal rods and eight movement hammers. A pendulum rod hangs from the rear of the movement and the rod may either have a cylindrical bob or a round bob (not shown). The back plate is marked with the Junghans logo of a
“J-unghans” within a pointed star. The 103/80 movement had 80 pendulum beats per minute rather than 60. It was also more commonly used in Junghans bracket mantel clocks. . . . .
CONDITION:
Case – Fair -Missing central finial on hood, mold stains and chips on the case (largest on left foot).
Dial – Several scattered scratches with paint chips. Overall in Good condition.
Movement – Appears to be very good, although I could not see the pendulum, but will assume it is in place.
RECENT COMPARABLES:
~https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/76899261_small-german-tall-case-clock (This is your model, it sold in 2019 for $40) ~ ~https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/antique-german-grandfather-clock-VaUfOlPhq (similar example with glass in the trunk door sold for $40 in 2018)
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/german-grandfather-clock-junghans-movement-1920-1205-c-e79451a8c3 (Full size grandfather clock by Junghans and double weight driven, rather than spring, sold for $100 in 2020)
COMMENTARY REGARDING NOTE INSIDE THE CLOCK:
As far as the note in the clock of 1880 - We know that Junghans was not making this type of movement back in 1880 and we know that the Hall clock was not invented until the middle 1880s by Walter Durfee of Providence, Rhode Island. Germany became an excellent reproducer of Anglo-American clocks including the fine Hall clocks after 1900, especially in the decade from 1905-1915 when they made very large heavy weight driven Hall clocks copying the American and English versions which were then in existence. They were trying to achieve their market share, and they made a very good clock at a cheaper price point than their English and American competition. Between the two World Wars the German clockmaking industry tried to regain market share but never could. They tried to keep their names off the clocks because they felt that the English and French speaking countries they had fought in WW I would not buy German products. Even in this grandmother Hall clock it is only the Junghans logo that is seen on the movement with no signature on the dial and the word, Germany, never mentioned
HISTORY OF JUNGHANS:
Erhard Junghans established his clock factory in the Black Forest region of southeastern Germany in 1861 with his partner Jacob Zeller. He was one of the great innovators in terms of utilizing mass production factory methods. He was a pioneer who helped to change the Black Forest clock industry from a cottage industry into an American style example by the factory use of interchangeable parts. The name of Junghans has undergone numerous changes over the years and into the modern era. I was able to count 50 different trademarks used by the firm since 1861. The worked closely with firms in Germany, the United Kingdom and in America. Much of their output after 1900 was for use in England and America, probably in greater numbers than the sale of their clocks at home.
"United Freiburg Clock Factories A.G.", was formerly Gustav Becker. This firm used the Becker name as Becker A.G. and continued successfully until 1926, when it was taken over by Junghans.
Hans Winterhalder founded a company in the USA called the HAWINA Clock Company with 800 employees devoted purely to the exportation of Winterhalder clocks to England, Russia and America during the first decade of the 20th century. Hawina was eventually sold to the giant German clock firm of Junghans in 1925.
PRICING:
I would have thought that this clock would be valued in the $100-$125 range but the comparables above tell the story of what the public is willing to pay today at auction for such a clock.
If you plan to sell it in a garage sale setting I think it would be reasonable to ask $100, but be willing to take the proper fair market value which would be in the range of $40-$60.
We live in a small world and there aren’t many clock appraisers doing this much of an investigation into the value of such clocks.
I have been doing this work on a daily basis since 2006 - in my retirement.
I wish I could supply you with better news but the prices of antique clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches has fallen steadily since 2001. Only the very top of the watch market has begun to rebound significantly.
Signed American grandfather clocks made in the early 1800s are barely selling in the very low five figures (10k-13K) and originally would have been double or triple that value twenty years ago.
In the second half of the 20th century the American market was flooded with Hall clocks of all shapes and sizes, mostly made in Germany with weight driven movements and bound for American furniture companies to make the cases. When people try to sell these large floor clocks today, ones they paid $3000 for in 1980, they find that they barely reach $150-$200 and these are ornate highly decorative items.
I tell you all of this because I want you to know where an unsigned (on the dial), vintage (not antique) German made grandmother clock falls out on the spectrum of prices in a very demanding clock marketplace today.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your appraisal.
Hope you have a safe, healthy and happy New Year.
My best,
David