Images(6)

Tall Case Clock

Dateca. 1800

OriginAmerica, New Jersey

MediumMahogany, tulip poplar, white pine, tiger maple, and holly (?); iron, brass, steel

DimensionsOH: 98 ¾”; OW: 21”; OD: 10”

Credit LineGift of Marjorie Ernest

Object number2016-126,A&B

DescriptionAppearance:
Tall case clock with broken scroll pediment; molded and scrolled cornice terminates in applied brass rondels; three brass ball and spire finials (replaced); side finials supported by small square plinths, center finial supported by plinth formed from the applied light dark wood string inlaid striped applique extending from the keystone over the hood door to the finial plinth and projecting in a ogee; tympanum flanked by light and dark wood inlaid striped pilasters below side finials; arched molding above hood door; arched hood door flanked by lightwood string inlaid columns with brass bases; no columns at rear; shaped side panels extend from back behind hood; hood door has a round brass knob (probably replaced); hood supported by cove molding; trunk divided into three parts, the upper of which is a veneered frieze divided into two sections by light and darkwood striped panels, each section with a horizontal tiger maple rectangular panel with incut corners; central portion of trunk has fluted quarter columns flanking the veneered and inlaid serpentine arched trunk door; trunk door has a lightwood string around edge and a barber-pole string outlining the cross-banded edge and a central oval medallion of a conch shell; brass knob probably replaced; lower section of trunk has a large horizontal rectangular veneered panel with a central rectangular mahogany veneer with in-cut corners surrounded by mitered cross-banding, sandwiched by tiger maple rectangular panels, all flanked by astragal arched tiger maple panels below the quarter columns; wide ogee waist molding over a base with a mahogany center panel with incut corners outlined in barber-pole string and mitered cross banding over a scalloped skirt on front and sides and tiny French feet.

Dial:
White painted arched dial is one piece, 0.085” thick, and measures 13 1/8” W x 18 5/8” H. Hours, minutes, seconds, calendar and lunar numerals are all Arabic numerals. Seconds dial is centered above hands. Calendar arched aperture is centered below hands. Spandrels painted with fans in corners and gold cross hatched on green; dial surmounted in arch by hemispheres and a rotating painted moon dial with moons and landscapes surrounded by a lunar dial.

The hour, minute, and second hands are cast brass.

Movement description:
Eight-day brass time, strike, and calendar weight-driven movement measuring 6.25” H x 4.75” W. Plate thickness is 0.111” and clearance between front and back plates is 2.34”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A rack-and-snail strike sounds the hours on a 4” diameter cast bell. The front and back plates have arched cutouts at the base.

Four brass pillars are riveted into the back plate and pinned at the front plate. The movement is fastened to the seat board by steel hooks that hook over the bottom movement pillars and are fastened under the seat board by nuts. The brass time and strike barrels are grooved for the weight cords. All time and strike train wheels have four-arm crossings. The motion work is uncrossed. The round steel crutch-rod has a closed-end fork. The pendulum bridge base is a butterfly shape. It is fastened to the back plate with two screws and two locator pins. The bell stand is screwed to the outside of the back plate. The strike hammer is constant thickness as opposed to pyramidal.

There are standard cast-brass pulleys with riveted stirrups. The overall length of the pendulum is 40 5/8”. The steel pendulum rod is semi-circular in cross section and measures 0.4” wide x 0.2” thick. The bob is cast iron with a brass face. It is 4.6” diameter and 0.7” thick at its center. The front of the bob has two concentric decorative circles. The back of the bob has a cast channel for pendulum pass through. The nut that secures the bob to the pendulum and allows for time adjustment is inverted bell shaped. The weights are cylindrical cast iron with hemispherical tops and cast in metal hooks. One weight is 8 ½” long, 2 ½” diameter, and weighs 12 lbs. The other weight is 8” long, 2 3/4” diameter, and weighs 11 lbs.
Label TextThis elegant neoclassical tall case clock has a history of having been owned in the Board family of Wanaque, Passaic County, New Jersey. James L. Robertson documented this history when he purchase the clock in 1886. The style of the ornament, espeically the inlaid horizontal panels across the trunk (center portion) of the case, is consistent with New York and New Jersey clock designs of the early 19th century. The white dial may have been painted by a specialist dial painter in Philadelphia.
MarkingsNotes thumbtacked inside the trunk door (removed and placed in object file 4/26/2018): 1) Ink on paper: “Purchased by me in 1886 from one of the Board family of Wanaque N.J. in whose family it had been about 104 years. Its previous history not traceable. Jas. L. Robertson” On reverse printed "TELEPHONE MADISON SQUARE "0330"/ UNITED STATES GUARDIAN CORPORATION/ 1170 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N. Y." 2) Ink on doctor’s prescription pad of Richard B. Ernest M.D. 240 W. State Street, Trenton, New Jersey: “On October 29, 1941, this clock was purchased by me from Nell Robertson (Son of Jas L. Robertson) and restored by Frank C. Hartmann. R.B. Ernest”. Printd on reverse "LONG'S DRUG STORE/ JAMES E. DELAHANTY, PROP./ E. STATE AND CHAMBERS STREETS/ TRENTON, NEW JERSEY/ PHONE 4261" S3) Business card printed “Jordan M. Knight/ CLOCKMAKER/ 2560 PENNINGTON RD./ PENNINGTON, N. J. 08534/ BY APPOINTMENT/ (609) 737-0761” with handwritten note “CLENED and Oiled/ by/ Feb. 1979/ March 29, 1983/ Sept 1988 ‘94/ Deceased/ 2-89” 4) typed on paper “I am old and worn, as my face appears,/ For I’ve walked on time a hundred years./ Many have fallen since I begun./ Many more will fall ere my race is run/ I have buried the world, with its hses and fears,/ In my long, long march of hundred years. 5) Under #4 is an identical typed paper.
ProvenanceThis clock has a history in the Board family of Wanaque, New Jersey. James L. Robertson documented this history in 1886 when he purchased the clock and wrote a note that is now pinned inside the trunk door: “Purchased by me in 1886 from one of the Board family of Wanaque N.J. in whose family it had been about 104 years. Its previous history not traceable. Jas. L. Robertson"

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