Hello Sharon,
Thank you for sending in this Hall clock to mearto.com for an appraisal.
TITLE:
Cherry-stained oak, triple spring driven, eight-day time, striking and quarterly chiming Hall clock (Name for the modern grandfather/grandmother clock), the "Newton H300" model, using an imported West German made movement, made and sold by the Herschede Clock Company, Starkville, Mississippi, circa 1960.
PROVENANCE: “Inherited. The clock was brought down to Miami from Kentucky by my father in about 1980. It belonged to Canterbury my grandfather and his wife. My grandfather died in 1980. It belonged to his ex-wife that lived in Kentucky. Who owned the clock before they were married. I do not know the exact dates but I would say before 1960."
DESCRIPTION:
Case: 71” x 15” x 9.5” this is a traditionally styled floor standing clock, called a grandmother clock or more commonly today a short Hall clock, made of oak with a cherry stain. The hood has a concave moulded broken arch pediment with applied wooden volutes in the terminals. And the arches center a wooden plinth holding a carved ball and spire finial. Just below is an arched glazed dial door with exposed knuckle hinges and metal pull, flanked by vertically reeded hood pilasters with short base moulding at the top and base. A stepped and convex moulding transitions down to the trunk section with a three-quarter length rectangular glazed rectangular door and having large undecorated oak friezes above and below the door. The door is similarly hinged and has a pull, much like the dial door. A double ogival moulding leads down to the square base with either a drawn or incised base “turtle” ornament simulating the turtle panels seen on American Chippendale clocks made in Pennsylvania in the late 18th century. A concave moulding leads down to the broad flat base with straight bracket feet with carved heels. There is a door at the back of the hood for access to the movement compartment. The sides of the case are solid wood.
Dial: A single arched brass alloy dial plate with applied silvered Arabic hour chapter ring, closed bar minute track, gilt foliate paintings in the dial center and corner spandrels, steel machine made Chippendale style hands. Herschede is written above the twelve. In the lunette there are paintings of trees and vines with leaves. There are three winding arbors in the main dial.
Movement: This is a solid brass plate movement with tubular pillars between the front and rear plates, held together with screws and nuts at the back plate. There is an anchor escapement, flywheel for striking aided by a rack and snail on the front plate. There are three brass barrel springs driving the movement which is powered for eight days, with hourly and possibly half hourly striking and quarterly chiming on a set of four metal rods by four movement hammers. The pendulum hangs from the pendulum bridge at the top of the back plate and note the rounded shape of the pendulum bridge (that is used only by the German clockmakers). On the lower left of the back plate is a brass spicule music box, most likely German or possibly Swiss made to play the proper chimes, most likely Westminster. If you look closely at the right lower back plate, you will find engraved there some names and numbers and I myself can make out Germany, perhaps West Germany. The pendulum rod appears to hang from the flat brass fork like crutch. However, the clock is not running and likely needs a cleaning. (If you can read the movement numbers we might be able to figure out the german clockmaker, but i don't know if they are legible. (They would be in the upper line or two of the engraving in the right side of the lower back plate you showed me. I just found the back of the movement in another Newton model, and it says on the movement, "Herschede, Starkville, Made in Germany, No (0) Jewels")
CONDITION:
Case - The cabinet is in good condition. No water damage and no large scratches. The problem here is that the style is a bit plain with no bells and whistles, but the form of the case has good lines.
Dial: exposed screws noted but otherwise in excellent condition.
Movement: Fairly typical German made movement, most likely made by Urgos or Kieninger or even Franz Hermle clock company.
It appears to be complete but is not functioning. Likely needs a cleaning.
This form of spring driven hall clock was the last gap of that industry, since most Hall clocks are driven by weights. Rarely do I see spring driven Hall clocks, and they bring very little on the auction market.
NEWTON MODEL GRANDMOTHER SIZE HALL CLOCK:
This was a model built shortly after Herschede moved their factory from Cincinnati, Ohio to Starkville, Mississippi in 1959/60. The serial numbers on the clocks made in Starkville are not normally seen on a list of Herschede numbers. The ones clocks built before 1968 did have serial numbers on the cases or movements.
All of the Newton models used springs instead of weights, all wound from the dial. One person commenting on this model, which her family had owned, commented that she found a picture of it in 1963 catalog offering the clock for $200.00 at that time. An advertisement in 1968 showed that the Newton model had now been made into a three weight driven clock, no longer using springs. The following shows you model in 1986 with weights: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/49610033379118163/
Here are some examples with selling prices that I could find today:
NEWTON COMPARABLES:
~https://www.auctionzip.com/auction-lot/Herschede-8-Day-Grandmother-Clock-with-Broken-Arc_77D4AF8907
(Sold in 2019 for $130. Look at the writing on the back plate.)
~https://picclick.com/grandmother-clock-Herschede-Newton-Model-H300-192715918526.html (Offered on Ebay starting the bidding at 99 cents and had no buyers)
~https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/81544512 (Goodwill had an auction in 2019 and sold this clock for $9.99)
~https://online.auctionnation.com/auction/12853/item/herschede-newton-h300-westminister-chime-grandfather-clock-15-x-95-x-705h-1581155/ (Sold for $40 at auction in 2018)
~https://www.justanswer.com/antiques/bhh5o-inherited-believe-herschede-s-day-clock.html (An appraiser states that the Newton model was valued RETAIL at $1400-$1600. That would make the fair market value in the $400-$500 range, and I do not believe that is correct.)
~https://aarauctions.com/servlet/Search.do?auctionId=2972&itemId=57036 (I cannot find the year this was sold but believe it to e in 2021, it bought $180)
~https://offerup.com/item/detail/579185562 (sold in 2018 for $30)
HISTORY:
A Brief History of the Herschede Hall Clock Company: (Taken from Champ’s Clock company - http://www.champsclock.com/herschedeinfo.htm#history )
Frank Herschede was born on July 30, 1857 in Cincinnati, Ohio. At the age of 16, he started to work as an apprentice watch and clock repairman. In 1877, he went into business for himself and moved to Vine and 5th Street. He branched out to jewelry, watches, diamonds, etc., and in 1885, the store moved to larger quarters at the corner of Arcade and Vine. In this same year, he started to import movements and have his cases made in a cabinet shop on Front Street in Cincinnati, Ohio. The clock business expanded to the point that Frank bought out the cabinet shop in 1900.
In 1901, he exhibited in the South Carolina and West Indian Exposition at Charleston, South Carolina, where he received a gold medal for his hall clocks. This was the first of several.
Frank's son, Walter, graduated from high school in 1902, and went into the cabinet shop to work. On December 29 of this same year, steps were taken to incorporate the Herschede Hall Clock Company.
The factory moved from Front Street to 1011-1015 Plum Street in 1903. Several medals were won by Herschede in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904; a gold medal for the best hall clock, a gold medal for the best hall clock cases, and a silver medal for tubular chimes.
In 1909, the company leased the building next door at 1007-1009 Plum Street to make clock movements. The first movement was assembled and passed final inspection on January 10, 1911. In 1913, the third melody was added to the Whittington and Westminster chimes. "Canterbury Chimes" was composed by Charles Eisen, "a gifted American pianist," especially for Herschede.
At the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the quality of the line again resulted in two major awards: grand prize was presented to the Herschede Hall Clock Company for chime hall clocks and mantel clocks, and a gold medal was awarded for the hall clock cabinets manufactured by the company.
By the early 1920's branch sales offices were opened, first in New York City, then in Chicago and San Francisco. Frank Herschede died on September 15, 1922, and Walter was named president in January of 1923.
In 1925, Walter started to work with Mr. Warren with the electric movement chime clocks. By April of 1926, the Revere Clock Company came into being.
On February 4, 1934, Walter's son, Dick Herschede, started full time employment with his father. Many years later, in 1959, contact was made with the North Mississippi Industrial Development Association, and the plant moved to Starkville, Mississippi in May of 1960.
In 1973, Herschede merged with Howard Furniture and Briarwood Lamps into Arnold Industries, Inc.
On September 23, 1983, Herschede implemented a plan to restructure the Herschede Hall Clock division from a manufacturer of the finished clocks to a supplier of quality tubular bell movements to the industry.
PRICING:
I think if you offer this clock on the auction market today it would have a fair market value that falls into the range of $150-$200 with a retail value of about twice that amount. The simplicity of the spring driven movement, made in Europe, and not a weight driven example will keep the price down.
Thank you for reminding me about the Provenance and your family history. I do not think I will change the pricing from the examples I have seen today because that price seems to be on target.
I hope this write-up does justice to this clock and makes you more certain of the the facts as i have presented them.
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for this appraisal.
My best,
David