Purchased an 8’ tall Grandfather clock

[jiminbartow]

For all you fellow clock lovers... Several days ago, I was looking at the “Antiques” section of “Craigslist” and came across an 8’ tall, long case, rocking ship, Grandfather clock, circa 1837, selling for $1,200.00. It was made of beautiful Flame mahogany With a great elaborately painted dial and I immediately called the seller and asked to come over and see it, for at that price, it would not be around very long.

I gathered the cash and a friend, just in case I wanted it and headed over. At first look, I knew I wanted it, for it was very regal and stunning in appearance. Above the dial, there is a sailing man-o-war ship of the line, flying a British flag that is connected to the pendulum that rocks the ship back and forth as the pendulum moves back and forth.

The owner bought it several years ago at an estate sale and had fallen on hard times and priced it to sell, fast. He loved it and did not want to sell it, but, in the interest of full transparency, told me it would only run for 40 minutes and then stop. He said it had not been serviced or oiled in 5 years, but he was afraid to work on it. The reason it was running when I got there was because he had just started it before I arrived. The movement was very clean and I saw no broken gears, so there was no reason that it could not be made to run.

The seller told me it was made to commemorate the accession to the throne of the young Queen Victoria in 1837, but that cannot be confirmed as rocking ship long case clocks were common in British clocks of that era during the height of the British Empire. It came with a folder containing a 1998 appraisal estimating its’ value at $14,500.00 and a receipt of a prior owner who paid $10,500.00 for it. I handed him $1,200.00 and took the clock home. When I got it home, and set it up, I quickly discovered the reason it would not stay running and adjusted and balanced the cadence by adjusting the crutch arm so the tick and the tock of the swinging pendulum are precisely equal. I then rewound the cat gut line onto the grooved winding barrels so the lines do not overlap and are not tangled and then I oiled all the gears with high quality clock oil. Ever since then, the clock has been running perfectly. I am now regulating the time by adjusting the height of the pendulum (raising to speed up and lower to slow down).

I really love the clock and sometimes go in the living room just to look at it, watch the ship rock and listen to it tick. Jim Patrick

[david_dewey]

WOW! Plus, glad you have a tall enough room in which to place the clock!

[jiminbartow]

Yes. I am fortunate to have 12’ ceilings in my Victorian house to accommodate my taller antiques. If I had to move into a modern house, I’d have to get rid of several of my antiques such as a hall tree, Polyphon upright music box, bookcases, Victorian bedroom sets, dining room set, curio cabinets and bookcases. Thank you. Jim Patrick

[david_dewey]

Is that a three-disk music box? I worked on one some 49 years ago at the Gloria Folk Art Gallery. I sometimes wonder what happened to that collection--an amazing assortment of mechanical machines (including a Virtuousa Violina (not spelled correctly, I'm certain)).

[Walter Higgins]

That is gorgeous! I know clocks have taken a hit in recent years, but that still looks very well-bought to me.

Last year I brought home a Wing & Son piano that is beautiful. I know they're still considered production, but when compared to everything else out there (and the fact that it was free) I couldn't let it pass. There are so many things out there that people once sacrificed and took out a payment plan to own that are now considered burdensome clutter that it is mind boggling. The positive side to it is that it opens collecting opportunities up to people that once couldn't participate, but the downside is it eventually reaches a tipping point to where when nobody will take things they start going into the dumpster.

[Ruxstel24]

Boy that's a beauty Jim !! How's it sound ??
Not only tall, but just huge all around, nice find/save.

[jiminbartow]

No, David. It is not a changer Model that plays multiple tune discs, but is a single play, upright, coin operated, Polyphon, with bells, that is considered an early jukebox that was usually found in German and Austrian beer halls in the 1890’s. One 2 Pfennig coin got you one play of a 20” disc. The proprietor of the beer hall had a key and was the only one that could change the disc to play a different song. Usually a March or a patriotic song to appeal to the young and old former and current veterans drinking their beers, singIng and looking for women. In addition to the double tune combs, it has a xylophone (called bells), which makes the song sound a lot better and louder. The lower cabinet stores extra 20” discs. I have about two dozen discs.

When I bought this Polyphon, it did not have the motor cover or the carved corner openings in the door. Using photographs I found online and printed onto photo paper, I had to carve the ornate door speaker openings at the top corners of the door and make a motor cover out of walnut that matched the original wood. Jim Patrick

PS. Thanks Dave Hanlon. The clock has two weights. One for the time and one for the strike. It has a cup bell on top that strikes each hour and sounds very “charming” and Colonial, like the era it came from.

[david_dewey]

Unfortunately my dial-up isn't loading pictures right now (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't--very frustrating). Although it was 49 years ago, I think i remember that the three disk box at the Gallery played all three disks at once and was coin operated. I don't know if it had bells or not--too long ago to remember! I do remember the music was "haunting"--it was one of my favorites. I had to get some mercury for the on-off switch (open top porcelain tub that two prongs dipped into to make the connection--not anything that OSHA would like--or even UL, I'll bet! Sister Margaratte was amazed that I could get it working. Now that I look back on that time, I was surrounded by amazing instruments. I was never there when it happened, but Mattell would come over to get ideas.

[Wayne Sheldon]

I love all these things!
I do worry about their future. As already mentioned. If prices go too low, nobody will invest the space, let alone the money, to preserve most of it. The way society is going now, in a few decades, most people in the middle and lower classes will not have any room for these things. History is important! It is history that tells us we are going the wrong way. And if we cannot somehow change minds and hearts, we will not change the direction.
These "things" connect us to history! They help us to understand it. Preserving these "things" is important also.
Cherish that clock Jim P. As well as the music machines.

[jiminbartow]

Thanks Wayne. I do and I will. I agree. I invest in these things out of a love of history and an age when artisans, spent their lives as an apprentice under a master to learn the trade and then as a master woodworker and cabinet maker to create these beautiful antiques.

I was blown away at only having to pay $1,200.00 for the clock. The wood parts and veneer alone are worth that much and that is before work even starts on it. Were someone to be able to find a master clock maker/cabinetmaker who could even do the Fluted spiral columns, the moulding carvings and joinery work, to re-create a modern day clock of the same quality, the labor hours alone would be unaffordable. I consider myself a decent woodworker myself using every power tool there is, but can’t fathom how the old masters did this work by hand without electricity when the only power they had in the 1830’s was water or steam power and the only light was by candle or oil lamp. Considering all this, it is a wonder that the quality of the workmanship on antiques is so much better than today’s workmanship which is mostly manufactured by machines. So, I not only buy antiques because they remind me of and take me back to a simpler time, but also because they are made of real wood by artisans who took pride in their work and are a much better quality than the machine made, particle board furniture available today. Jim Patrick

[Kaiser]

You could always start a B&B in it, it's big enough
All jokes aside a beautifull piece and for a very reasonable price too
Prices for antiques, specially clocks and furniture have hit rock bottom here in Holland, sometimes its even hard to give it away.
Out of my fathers estate we had a "Friese staartklok" my dad paid a couple thou for several decades ago, we could not sell it, nobody wanted it, my brother ended up with it, it's in a box now in his attic, waiting for better times..
(the picture is not the actual clock, just an example of a similar one)