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Tall Case Clock

Date1808-1820

Attributed to Eli Terry

OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Northwestern or Vermont

MediumBasswood, cherry, and yellow birch

DimensionsOH: 90 3/4" :OW: 18 7/8"; OD: 9 ½"

Credit LineGift of Ellin and Baron Gordon

Object number2010.2000.1,A&B

DescriptionAppearance: Tall case clock with brocken scrolled pediment; gilded ball and spire finials; case grain painted and decorated with brownish rectangular reserves outlined in yellow with indented corners; pinwheels in center of pediment rosettes; wooden work; painted wooden dial plate.

Dial:
One piece arched painted 11 ¾”W x 16 1/8”H wood dial. Arabic hour dial with minute markings on outer band. Arabic minutes labeled in 15 minute intervals. Arabic seconds dial in 10 second increments immediately below 12. Arabic calendar with date markings and labeled at 5-10-15-20-25-31. Fruit basket containing strawberries and blueberries centered in arch with gold leaf and raised gold motif on either side. Raised painted gold feathery spandrel ornaments in dial corners. The dial contains no fake markings for winding holes.

Movement description:
Eight-day wood time, strike, and calendar weight-driven movement measuring 8.5” H x 6 1/8” W. Front plate thickness is 0.310”. Back plate thickness is .265”. Clearance between front and back plates is 2.8”. Clock has an anchor-recoil escapement regulated by a seconds beat pendulum. A count wheel strike sounds the hours on a cast bell (missing). 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 37 3/4”. The pendulum bob and weights are missing. They were not with the clock when it was acquired.

Construction: On the hood, the arched top board is nailed to the top of the upper side panels. The pediment is face-nailed to the upper side panels. Three finials have round tenons that rest in holes in a center plinth (integral to the pediment) and the top of each end of the pediment panel. The center finial is smaller than those on the outside. The pediment and upper side panels are nailed to the lower front and side panels from the inside.

The hood door has a lap-joined frame glued and reinforced with two nails in each corner. The inside edge is rabbeted to hold the glass (replaced). The door closes against rabbets formed by lath nailed to the lower side panels and an interior panel conforming to the shape of the lower edge of the pediment and extending ½" below it. This panel is nailed to another interior panel which conforms to, is flush with and is nailed to the lower edge of the pediment. The front and side sections of the hood's base molding are butt joined and nailed to the bottom edges of the lower side panels. Flat brass door hinges are screwed to the top of the base molding and lower edge of the pediment and to the top and bottom edges of the door. Headless nails are used as floating tenons to join the four fluted columns to the bottom edge of the upper side panels. The bottoms of the columns are nailed from below to the hood base molding.

The trunk extends 3 ½" into the hood. Lath is nailed to the outer edges of the sides of the trunk near the top to guide the placement of the (formerly) removable hood. A two piece mitered molding nailed to the sides and face of the trunk near the top rests under the bottom molding of the hood. These moldings are now joined together with modern nails. This restricts the hood from being removable as it originally would have been. Mitered blocks are nailed to the top edges of the trunk sides to support the clock seat board.

The front of the trunk is face nailed to the trunk sides. The trunk door is rabbeted on all four sides to overlap the opening. It has cast iron hinges that appear original.

The trunk back is nailed into rabbets on the back edge of the trunk sides and extends upwards to the top of the hood. It butts against but is not connected to the back edges of the hood side panels and at the lower end butt joins the top edge of the back of the base.

The trunk extends 4 ½" into the base (plinth). To accommodate the lesser width and depth of the trunk, blocks are nailed to the front and both sides at the lower end of the trunk and in turn, the front and sides of the base are face nailed to the blocks. This interior structure is hidden by a two piece molding that is nailed to the side of the trunk and the top edge of the base front and sides. The back of the base is nailed to the base sides and bottom board (now broken out). The bottom board was further secured by face nails from the front and both sides. Feet are integral to the front and sides.

Hood, trunk and base are made of bass wood. Wooden clock works are of cherry and yellow birch. Except where noted, all nails are wrought.
Label TextPaint was often used on 19th-century furniture to imitate expensive woods like mahogany and rosewood. Contrasting colored paints, including the yellow aqnd green on this clock, were applied over these faux-grained surfaces to provide details in imitation of the inlay and stringing found in high styled solid or veneered cases. "Fancy" furniture, like this clock case, provided an exciting and fun visual experience that was popular during the first few decades of the 19th century.

Eli Terry was one of the early makers of wooden clock movements in America. Terry mass produced these wooden movements thereby making them less expensive than imported brass works and more accessible to larger numbers of people. Consumers could purchase the clock works with or without a case. The latter method allowed the movements to be transported further distances more easily. A consumer could then have a case made near his home rather than in Connecticut. The case of this clock was made either in northwestern Massachusetts or Vermont.
ProvenanceThe clock is believed to have descended in the Daggert family of New Haven, Connecticut through Mrs. Stanley Daggert. Mr. Stanley Daggert descended from the Reverend Daggart of the Puritan Period.