Hello Nick,
Thank you for sending in this cuckoo clock for an appraisal.
TITLE:
Stained and hand carved, Linden wood, said to be double fusee, perhaps 30 hour duration with link chains (usually he made 8 day fusee driven clocks), wall hung cuckoo clock, signed on paper label Joh. B. Beha, made by Johann Baptist Beha (1815-1898), Eisenbach, Black Forest region, Germany made circa 1870.
DESCRIPTION:
CASE: Size not provided. This is a dark stained and hand carved, wall hung, chalet type, cuckoo clock with a canted pediment surmounted on the façade by sprigs of foliage with a larger branched grape vine finial at the apex of the pediment. The undulating vines proceed down both sides of the chalet interspersed with leaves and either seed pods or grapes. In the eaves below the canted roof there is a floral decorated door for the emergence of the cuckoo bird on the hour to make his famous call. The façade of the chalet appears to be lined with tiles or shingles which gives it a fine textured appearance. Tree limbs help form the structure and are seen beneath the eaves and proceeding down both side of the façade and underlying the chalet itself. Foliage covers all of the tree limbs. Two sets of link chains hang down from the case and there is a carved pendulum in a rounded hand carved form with two leaves in the center, all well carved in the Beha tradition. The sides of the case have rectangular doors for accessing the movement, and a small rectangular opening at the top of the bellows to allow the sound of cuckoo bird to be more easily heard. Metal latches hold the façade of the foliate vines onto the front of the case.
DIAL: The dial is made in three parts with three different wooden textures and is very finely executed. The outer ring is a lighter colored wood with applied bone or iveroid Roman Gothic hour chapter ring. The central ring is punctate in texture and design and is simply ornamental with the inner dial center carved in the form of a 360 degree fan. The hands are bone and carved in a beautiful floral form. There are no winding holes in the dial.
MOVEMENT: The movement is a wooden post and plate type with an outside countwheel, typical of the Beha clocks. The pendulum rod is in a three rail gridiron design and appears to hang from a steel link suspension at the top of the back plate. I cannot see the two fusees you mention and the back plate does not have the expected winding component and appears to be a link chain driven example. Usually with fusee movements there will be winding apertures at the bottom of the back plate and there are none here. See an example of the back plate of a double fusee Beha clock:
https://www.fontainesauction.com/auction-lot/attributed-to-johann-baptist-beha-german-1815-1_CD0448C900
Beha’s fusee movements were specifically designed for catgut. Later repairs made in England and the USA often used link chains instead of catgut which caused problems in the operation of the clock. I believe that you have a double fusee movement and it is just that I cannot see it properly in these photos. The construction of the gearing and metal parts at the back of the movement are very much like those designed by Beha. I believe that the link chains indicate a replacement of the catgut originally used. However, I am mystified that I see no stop-work for the fusees with winding arbors. I apologize for not being able to better describe the movement but I can only describe what I can see.
The link chains are pulled manually up onto the sprocket gearing of the movement and then engage the pine cone shaped fusees (which I cannot see).
Beha developed the first 8 day fusee movements around 1850, and continued in a similar manner for sixty years. The fusees introduced in 1850 used catgut cable not link chains. The wooden post and plate construction is flanked by the multicolored columns of the air bellows, each contributing part of the cuk-coo sound that the painted bird makes on the hours.
CONDITION:
Case: Small amount of damage on the upper case, otherwise in very fine condition. Dial: Wear and tear on the clock hands.
Movement: One of the bellows is not working. I, unfortunately, cannot find all of the components of the fusee movement that I can properly describe. However, I believe that the movement is original to this case, genuine and functional.
HISTORY:
JOHANN BAPTISTE & Sons: Born in Oberbrand c. 1815 and died in 1898, Johann was trained as a clockmaker by his father, Vincent, in the town of Eisenbach, Black Forest region of Germany. The Beha family constructed the first functional fusee in the Black Forest region as well as going on to solid brass movements of very fine quality. Johann's sons made cuckoo, quail and musical clocks. Johann Beha set up his own business, apart from his father in 1845. They won acclaim in a Karlsruhe, Germany international exposition in 1861 where "Johann Baptiste Beha displayed 30 hour cuckoo clocks in various sizes and models some with blinking eyes, cuckoo and quail calls". His main export markets were to Russia (where he had a distribution warehouse in St. Petersburg) and the British Isles. He had also made arrangements for shipping his clocks to the USA in large numbers, as well. He died in 1898 leaving the business to be continued by his sons Lorenz and Engelbert Beha. Although he specialized in cuckoo clocks and through his continuous development this firm became the leading maker of fine and complex examples. The manufacturing program consisted of: cuckoo/quail clocks, cuckoo clocks with echo, weight operated clocks, spring powered clocks, trumpeter clocks, monk ringing a monastery bell, calendar clocks, etc...............
CARVED CASES: The cases for Beha clocks came from case/woodcarvers’ shops located in different towns of the Black Forest such as Waldkirch, Furtwangen, Villingen, Vöhrenbach and Dittishausen. When signed, the Beha clocks bore two types of identifications; either a stick-on label which would be on the case back-board on the inside of the case or the name "Beha" engraved on one of the two brass fusee drum ends. However, it is necessary to emphasize that most of the Beha timepieces were not signed and it is almost impossible to identify a Beha based on the case alone. The case makers that supplied Beha with their cases, sold identical cases to other manufacturers too. So today we can find identical cases, but in fact they were not made by the Beha enterprise. For example, Aaron Ketterer and Theodor Ketterer frequently used the Beha designed and their cases are nearly identical. That is why the mechanism is the crucial part to give a positive attribution.}.......................
PRICING:
The very fact that it carries the Beha label, the most famous of the Black Forest horologists give this clock added value. I feel that the fair market value of this clock would fall into the $1500-$2000 range. Here is a double fusee shelf clock with winding holes on the front dial which sold for $1500 in 2018: https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/beha-double-fusee-table-model-cuckoo-clock-NzXF-yqUjo
Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your appraisal.
My best,
David