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Tall Case Clock, Case

Date1809-1813

Maker Seth Thomas

Maker Silas Hoadley

OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Plymouth

MediumWhite pine, glass, brass, and paint

DimensionsOH: 85 ½"; OW: 19 7/8"; OD: 10 3/8"

Credit LineGift of Juli Grainger

Object number2008.2000.2,A

DescriptionAPPEARANCE: Tall case clock with wooden 30 hour movement, dial signed by Seth Thomas and Silas Hoadley. Clock case faux-grained with yellow, black and red design has a flat top with a diamond shaped pierced fret between two plinths across the front; columns with brass capitals flank the arched hood door, trunk has a rectangular door with thumbnail molded edge, plain quarter columns with brass capitals, wide convex moldings at top and base of trunk, front and sides of base extend down to form straight feet and shaped skirt with pendant carved fan.

Dial:
One piece arched painted 11 7/8”W x 16”H wood dial signed THOMAS & HOADLEY between the IX and III. Roman numeral hour dial with Arabic minute labels in 5 minute intervals on outer band. Arabic seconds dial in 10 second increments immediately below 12. Arabic calendar with date markings and labeled at 5-10-15-20-25-31. Clock dial arch painted with Masonic imagery including an eye, sun and moon, two columns flanking an arch at the top of four steps with a Bible (?) in the center of the arch, a beehive, compass, square, anchor, mallet, and trowel. Painted floral spandrels in dial corners. Gold trimmed false time and strike winding arbors. “5th” and “56” marked on back of dial.

Movement description:
Eight day wood time, strike, and calendar weight-driven movement measuring 8 11/16” H x 6 1/8” W. Plate thickness is 0.262”. Clearance between front and back plates is 2.75”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A count wheel strike sounds the hours on a 3.7” diameter cast bell. The count wheel is mounted to the back of the back plate.

With the exception of the escape wheel, all time and strike train wheels are solid wood. The escape wheel is brass on a wooden arbor. The conventional wood motion work is solid. The pendulum crutch is an open loop.

Instead of the usual 4 pillars commonly found to fasten the front and back plates, three wooden pillars are riveted into the top of the front plate and pinned at the back plate. The center pillar is slotted vertically and serves as the pendulum spring mounting. The bottom of the front plate is fastened to the seat board via a mortise and tenon joint. The back plate extends beyond the seat board and is fastened via two wooden pillars that protrude from the back of the seat board. This design eliminates the need for two of the longer pillars and combines movement plate securing with seat board mounting, thereby eliminating the two hooked rods and corresponding nuts that are common on brass tall case clock movements to secure the movement to the seat board.

Each main wheel drum has two cords wrapped around it. The clock is wound by pulling down on one cord which turns the main wheel core which in turn pulls the weight bearing cord up and wraps it around the core, thus winding the clock. This design eliminates the need for metal winding arbors, a clock key, holes in the dial, and weight pulleys.

The overall length of the steel pendulum rod is 43 3/4”. The iron pendulum bob is 3.1” diameter and 0.7” thick. The weights are sand filled cylindrical rolled sheet with nailed on top and bottom wood covers. They are both 7” long. Diameters are 2.0” and 2.5”. They weigh 2 and 4 pounds respectively, indicating that most of the sand has been lost. Each winding cord has a conical lead counter weight.

CONSTRUCTION: The top framed-portion of the hood face is secured to the sides with three large dovetails while the rest of the hood is nailed together. The hood door is joined with mortise and tenon joints, each of which is secured with two wooden pegs. The hood door hinges were missing and replaced by CWF. The current fretted gallery was never nailed but only glued in place. Brass capitals and bases are used on the hood columns as well as the waist quarter columns. The clock waist face frame is held together by four mortise and tenon joints while the rest of the case is secured with nails and glue blocks. The top half of the case (waist) fits inside the lower half (plinth) of the case, extending two or three inches below the waist molding, and decorative quarter columns function as long glue blocks. The back board extends to the floor. The legs are integral with the sides extending to the floor.

PAINT/FINISH: The finish paint colors are a roughly-mixed muddy yellow and red applied in 1" wide wiggling brush strokes over a dark-brown ground paint. The paint on the clock appears to be original, although it has acquired a later discontinuous dark brown-stained and varnish over most of the front and part of the sides. The brown varnish seems to be very hap-hazardly applied covering most of the front surfaces but only sporadically on the sides. It also awkwardly covers the brass hardware. One anomaly is the quality of the painted quarter columns. These appear to have a white ground and to have been painted differently than the rest of the case, smoother in texture and in blending of colors, possibly smoke-grained. The paint on the fretted hood gallery is consistent with the overall paint scheme.

Label TextEarly-19th century furniture made from inexpensive, plain wood was often faux grained to mimic more valuable, visually exciting wood. Wooden rather than metal mechanisms helped make tall clocks more affordable to middle class customers, including the unknown owner who personalized his dial with a Masonic emblem.
Markings"THOMAS & HOADLEY" painted on dial.
ProvenanceDonor purchased from Frank & Barbara Pollack in 2001. Said to have been found in a home in Westbrook, Maine.