Dear Clifford,

Greetings and thank you for calling upon the experts at Mearto to evaluate your stunning grandfather, longcase clock by Jacob Detweiler Custer (1805-1871). This is a treasure and has clearly found itself in the right home.

In the case of your superb clock, I am going to give you an evaluation without consideration for the provenance. I am quite certain that the provenance of your clock would add to the auction estimate, however, attaching a value to provenance can be subjective so for the sake of objectivity I'll compare what is comparable, the clock on it's own.

As I am sure you are aware, Custer's mantle and wall clocks pop up at auction a couple of times every year, his longcase clocks almost never. Conservatively, very conservatively, I would expect this example to being between $5500 and $6500USD at auction. The closest example to yours sold several years ago for $6500USD and while the form and moon dial are similar, yours is a stronger example. Unfortunately this example sold in 2009, which is normally a little outside of market considerations for evaluations but this is how scarce his clocks are and it bears mention. Another example in my research was not advertised as being by Custer but likely was and did have a moon dial painted by William Jones, this example sold for $2750USD in 2011. It was less ornamented than your example. Certainly the lack of maker attribution did not assist in the sale.

If you ever chose to sell it, it would likely be the finest of Custer's clocks to make it to the market, in which case my evaluation would become the low barometer of value.

If you have any followup questions, I am at your service.

Sincerely,

Erin-Marie