Images(10)

Short Tall Case Clock

Date1812-1819

Artist/Maker Allen Kelley

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Sandwich

MediumMahogany, white pine, glass, and brass; brass, steel, iron

DimensionsCase: OH: 60 1/2"; OW: 14 3/8"; OD: 8 1/2" Pendulum: OL: 25 9/16"; 2.9" diam Weight 1: OH: 8 3/4"; diam: 1.8" weight 2: OH: 8 7/8"; diam: 1.8" weight 3 OH: 3 3/8"; diam 1.4"

Credit LineBequest of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Hennage

Object number1990-287,A-E

DescriptionShort (dwarf) tall case clock with arched hood topped with a pierced fret between side and central fluted plinths supporting brass urn and flame finials; arched glazed hood door flanked by stop-fluted columns wth brass capitals and bases; hood supported by a broad cove molding; rectangular trunk door with molded edges flanked by stop-fluted quarter columns with brass capitals and bases all over a broad cove molding and square base supported by a flat base molding and tapered and shaped straight bracket feet.

Dial:
One piece, white, painted, kidney shaped dial, 8 5/16” W x 11” H x .047” thick. Arabic numerals within gold circle at top. Marks between numerals indicate all 60 minutes. Dial signed "Allen Kelley/ SANDWICH" within gold scrolls at base of dial. Two winding holes left and right of center point of hands with a third winding hole between center and 2.

Movement description:
Eight-day brass time, strike, and alarm three weight-driven movement measuring 5.5” H x 3.65” W. Plate thickness is 0.120”. The movement has three plates. Clearance between front and back plates is 1.8”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement. A rack-and-snail strike sounds the hours on a 2.95” diameter cast bell. The strike hammer head is pyramidal in shape. The horizontal alarm strike hammer is semicircular in shape and is driven by a crown wheel.

Four brass pillars are riveted into the back plate and pinned at the center plate. The front plate is pinned to the dial false plate as well as the center plate. The movement is fastened to the seat board by steel screws threaded into the bottom pillars. The brass time and strike barrels are not grooved for the weight cords. All time and strike train wheels and motion work have four-arm crossings. The round steel crutch-rod has an open-end fork. The pendulum bridge base is unusual in shape, being the right half of a typical bridge. It is fastened to the back plate with one screw and one locator pin. The bell stand is screwed to the inside of the center plate.

The weight pulleys are cast brass with riveted steel stirrups. The overall length of the pendulum is 25 9/16”. The pendulum rod is steel. The bob is cast iron with a polished brass face. It is 2.9” diameter. The weights are cylindrical cast iron with rounded tops. The time and strike weights are 1.8” diameter. The time weight is 8 ¾” long. The strike weight is 8 7/8” long. The alarm weight is 1.4” diameter and 3 3/8” long.

Label TextLike the taller clock (2011-80) made by John Bailey of Hanover, MA, this shorter version followed the design of the popular Boston/Roxbury tall case clocks of the early 19th century with its arched, fretted hood and fluted quarter columns. Allen Kelley, the maker of the clock movement, trained in Hingham, Massachusetts with one of John Bailey’s competitors, Joshua Wilder, before moving to Sandwich, a town in Barnstable County on Cape Cod. Small [tall case] clocks, a cheaper alternative to the full-sized examples, could be used in low-ceilinged spaces within a house. While some small clocks, as they were sometimes called in the period, had a reduced-size tall case clock arched dial, Kelley used a dial often found on contemporary shelf clocks.

MarkingsSigned on dial "Allen Kelley/ Sandwich"
ProvenanceThe Slymaris Collection
George Coe Graves
Donors purchased from Joe Kindig Jr. & Son in 1983.

Exhibition(s)