Massachusetts Shelf Clock
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Massachusetts Shelf Clock
Primary Wood: Mahogany, Makore veneer
Banding: Curly maple, ebony, and holly inlays; rosewood crossbanding
Secondary Wood: Eastern white pine, yellow poplar
Finish: Shellac
The shelf clock was popularized most notably by the Willard family of clockmakers in the early 1800's. The Willards worked tirelessly to market their clocks to an America where, for most people, the only clock available to them was in the church tower or the town square. The shelf clock was a technological innovation in it's time and offered a more affordable time piece for the home, broadening the market for the Willards and other early American clockmakers.
This particular clock is based on a circa 1805-12 Aaron Willard clock enclosed in a case attributed to John and Thomas Seymour.
The clock has an eight-day, weight driven mechanical movement. It is a timekeeper only, it does not strike the hour. In a bow to modernity, my name painted on the clock face, not the name of the clockmaker - my how times have changed!
30H x 13 3/8W x 6 1/2D
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Newport Tall-Case (Grandfather) Clock
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Newport Tall-Case (Grandfather) Clock
99"H x 22" W x 11" D
Primary Wood: "Cuban" mahogany (Swietenia mahogani)
Secondary Woods: Eastern White Pine, Poplar, Maple
Finish: Shellac
For many people, there is something special about a grandfather clock. Maybe it is the distinctive tick-tock of the mechanical movement. Perhaps it is the majestic proportions. Or maybe it is the memories that such a clock brings to mind. For me, it is the combination of all these things that result in a piece of furniture that has a "presence" in any room. Perhaps this is why others have said that a grandfather clock is not just a timekeeper, it is a companion for life.
This particular clock began when I stumbled upon the face in a little shop in Paducah, Kentucky. At some point in the past, the face had been separated from its original clockworks and was serving as a piece of decor. The face is solid brass, British, and dates from circa 1780. It is a beautiful, period face with cast brass spandrels, extensive engraving, and a rotating date ring. The name of the original clockmaker, "Devereux Bonly, London", is engraved in the roundel in the arch at the top of the face. With the face in hand, the next challenge was finding clock works. I was fortunate to find David Lindow ( www.lindowclockmaker.com/) who was able to match up one of his clock works to the face. David also re-silvered the "show" portions of the face. The movement is an eight-day, weight driven mechanical movement with an hourly bell strike.
While the face was at the clockmaker, I traveled up and down the East Coast researching the design, photographing and otherwise documenting originals at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, at Winterthur in Wilmington, Delaware and at Historic Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Virginia. All that, numerous trips to various libraries, and three full-size versions of the drawing later, the design was complete. The design of the clock case is distinctively Newport, most notably with the blocked-shell door in the waist. This clock is most closely related to the John Townsend labeled clock on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. There are a handfull of surviving examples of this design from the Townsend/Goddard families that date between 1770 and 1800, making this design perfectly consistent with the age of the clock face.
The clock case is made of "Cuban" mahogany (Swietenia mahogani), the furniture wood of choice in the late 1700's. Cuban mahogany was historically such an extraordinary material for furniture (and boats!) that sources were harvested to exhaustion, and the tree is now protected by an international treaty. Fortunately, Mark Butler at Urban Forest Recycling (http://urbanforestrecycling.com/urbanforestrecycling/Welcome.html) was able to (legally and ethically) provide enough material to build the clock. Mark operates a small sawmill in the Florida Keys, harvesting primarily storm damaged exotic species including mahogany.
The glass in the hood door and sidelights is restoration glass, which has a nice "ripple" in it, a look consistent with the time period of the clock. Unlike the original at the Metropolitan Museum, the fluted hood columns and the quarter columns in the waist have brass "stop reeding", a form of decoration found on other Newport clocks of the period. Another known Townsend clock of this design has chamfered corners and a rectangular figured panel in the pedestal (base), two design elements not found on the Metropolitan clock, but employed on this clock.
With this design and these materials, I think the case does justice to a truly elegant face, a face that was 80 years old at the time of the American Civil War.
This clock is going into a private home, but I would be proud to work to produce another clock of similarly impressive characteristics.
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