David

Mearto specialist

Hello Ashley, Thank you for sending in this standing hall clock to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that tonight. TITLE: Stained ash, maple or cherrywood, three train, spring driven, time, strike and quarterly chiming, ‘Tempus Fugit’ Hall clock (aka-modern grandfather clock), model 1658 with imported German movement, case made and sold by the colonial Manufacturing Company, Zeeland, Michigan, circa 1950’s. {Beginning in the 1967 Colonial applied a serial number plate on inside of the door: the first two digits generally was year of manufacture although it could be the next year.} DESCRIPTION: Case: This is a 67” tall Hall clock with a light colored stain (someone has labeled this a ‘champagne’ colored stain which is correct) on the hardwood case, possible ash, maple or cherry. The case is divided into three sections: Hood, Trunk and Base. The hood has a break-arch concave molded pediment without terminals. The undecorated tympanum has an arched cornice over the arched glazed dial door, itself flanked by free standing wooden ringed and turned colonnettes. The sides of the hood are solid and have undulating wooden stiles at the rear of the hood. A concave molding transitions down to the trunk section with its full length glazed door. The top of the door cut in a shield shape. The door has a round pull and exposed hinges, similar to the hood door. The case corners are chamfered with lamb’s tongue endings top and bottom. A second concave molding leads down to the double-base with a square unadorned section with short stepped molding down to the rectilinear true base which rests on straight bracket feet with a curved apron between. Dial: A single brass alloy arched dial plate with a silvered Roman hour chapter ring with foliate half hour markers, closed minute track with Arabic markers placed every five minutes along the periphery. There is a matte gilt brass dial center with three winding apertures, Machined steel modern Chippendale hands, applied and silvered Chieftain-mask corner spandrels, while in the lunette the silvered boss reads 'Tempus Fugit' (Time Flies), flanked by a profile of the Chieftain mask spandrels. Dial is unsigned. Movement: Not shown but marked as a movement #122, a German made (uncertain of the German company) triple barrel spring movement contained in solid brass rectilinear plates, the springs powering the movement for approximately eight days duration with chiming on the quarters and full strike and chiming on the hours. Chiming is most likely on a series of metal rods, four or five to each side of the movement struck by an equal numbers of movement hammers. A long seconds wooden pendulum rod with brass cylinder bob swings inside the case below. CONDITION: Case – In very good condition with no major damage, but with chips, nicks and scuffs on the base, especially the edges. The worm holes are all simulated. Dial – Also typical of the transitional era with two-part dial. The signature may have been partially gone over at some point. Movement – Not seen but assumed original to this case, genuine and fully functional. HISTORY – COLONIAL CLOCK COMPANY: The Colonial Manufacturing Company was founded in 1899 by John Spyker. In 1906, the original company went bankrupt, and was reorganized by 5 Zeeland, Michigan businessmen. To my knowledge the complete history of the company has never been published, so the following information has been gathered from a number of sources and pieced together. The Colonial Company from its inception, manufactured furniture, first in a small shop in Zeeland and then in two large factories, one in Zeeland and another in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They remained in operation until 1985. Initially they used American made clock movements, primarily made by the Herschede Clock Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Their early products are large Hall clocks with three brass weights, beveled glass doors and imported English tubular chimes. The desire for the Hall clocks waned and ended prior to WW l. Thereafter, the grandfather type clocks usually had brass dials, brass weights and rod chimes where hammers struck on a series of rods placed behind the movement. Following this they began to produce clocks driven by coiled springs rather than weights, also striking on rods called "Bim-Bam" chimes. After circa 1920 they began to import their movements from Europe where they were able to buy quality movements at a fraction of the cost of the American product. Most movements were purchased from Germany, although they also used English products which were a bit more expensive. After 1967 the serial numbers would indicate the date of manufacture because the first two digits indicated the year. Those clocks made prior to 1967 are more difficult to pin down in terms of date of production. My impression is the numbers in the middle of the models 1600-1700, date from the late 1940’s to mid-1950’s. The movement No 122 is definitely from the fifties and not the forties, however. By the late 1970's there were close to 200 employees producing 30,000 grandfather clocks annually for sale in the USA and Canada. Their dials were a combination of production from their own factory, as well as European imports. All movements were then imported from Germany, while all the cases were made by Colonial. COMPARABLES: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/84726503_tempus-fugit-grandfather-clock (A TRIPLE WEIGHT DRIVEN EXAMPLE OF A TEMPUS FUGIT CLOCK SOLD FOR $150 IN 2020) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/80084505_ridgeway-tempus-fugit-grandfather-clock-wweights (RIDGEWAY THREE WEIGHT TEMPUS FUGIT CLOCK SOLD FOR $200 IN 2020) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/77438485_tempus-fugit-grandfather-clock (SOLD IN 2019 FOR $25) PRICING: Looking at comparables of these mid-20th century Tempus Fugit Hall clock over these past few years shows that the weight driven examples sell a bit higher than those that are spring driven. On the other hand the Colonial name is one of the best of the companies in that era. The overall condition of yours is good to very good and that leads me to believe that the fair market value for your example in today’s weakened market would range from $125-$175 with a retail value of about twice that. I hope that has provided some help to you in placing this clock in its proper time and place. Such clocks were made during the second half of the 20th century in great numbers. That, by itself, has kept the price in check. My best, David