David

Mearto specialist

Hello Bianca, Thank you for sending in this standing floor clock (hall clock) to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to do that for you tonight. TITLE: Stained golden oak, three weight, 8-day time, hourly strike and quarterly (Big Ben, Westminster and St. Michaels) chiming Hall clock (also called the modern grandfather clock), with shelved Curio cabinet, Unsigned, marked, ‘Made in the Black Forest’ region of Germany, circa 1990. DESCRIPTION: Case: 210 x 70 cm, stained highly grained golden oak, Hall clock with break-arch concave moulded pediment (called a break arch because the arch is interrupted on both sides by the shoulders). An Arched cornice sits above the arched glazed two-part full-length hood and trunk door. The door has two parts: the upper section smaller and the beveled glass overlying the dial while below, also in beveled glass, the longer section allows viewing the descent of the three brass canister weights, a gridiron pendulum with large bob also swings inside the case. The hood section with glass overlying the dial is flanked by canted side panels cut at a 45 degree angle from the façade. In the hood section there are rectangular raised panels to each side. The sides of the case at the level of the trunk carries glass panels with sets of four shelves on each side where curios are placed. There is a long brass colored metal key escutcheon in the middle section of the front door. There is a horizontal and overhung cornice below the bottom of the door and the shelving. In the base the facade and both sides have recessed rectangular paneling. The base moulding sits flat to the floor with no feet. The interior of the backboard is oak. . . Dial: A brass alloy arched dial is screwed to the oak dial mat and has a silvered Roman hour chapter ring in circular cartouche form, with closed minute ring to the outside, foliate half hour markers between the cartouches, gilt brass/metal open floral filigree work is seen in the dial center and each of the spandrels. There are steel serpentine Chippendale-style hands. The dial is unsigned although something is written below the six which is illegible. A plaque beneath the dial says “Made in the Black Forest”. The lunette has a revolving moon dial with the days of the lunar month above (29 ½ days) and two stylized hemispheres below. The levers located at the three position is for choice of chimes (Big Ben, Westminster and German St. Michel) are for and chiming/silent features . . . Movement: Not shown but would be an German made three train movement which I assume is close to being as described here: a triple weight driven movement with solid brass plates, eight day duration with quarterly chiming and full chime and strike on the hour. The solid brass plate movement strikes via a series of hammers on a series of metal rods of varying length inside the case. Levers for chime control are at the three position on the dial. Three polished brass canister weights are wound manually by pulling up the link chains using their crystal handles and thereby loading the chain onto the three sprocket gears inside the movement plates. There is a Gridiron pendulum rod (for temperature compensation, it is usually made up of steel and brass rods) with an oversize brass pendulum bob with polished lyre decorative ornament just above the bob. . . . Condition: The clock appears to be in very fine condition. I make the assumption it is fully functional today. The case is very good condition, as is the dial and movement. . . . HISTORY OF GERMAN HALL CLOCKS: Prior to 1890 there was NO Hall clock production within Germany. However, with the Victorian Period came the popularity in England and America of the ornate grandfather clock and the so called Hall Clock. The large producer in England was J.J.Elliot. In America the Herschede Clock Company of Cincinnati was the major supplier of these types of clocks. Clock making factories began to develop throughout Germany, beyond the Black Forest region, to meet the demands of the English and American markets. They began to supply movements for these large Hall Clocks, usually without markings which would indicate the German origin of the works. They supplied a high quality product at a much smaller cost to the retail outlets in the USA and in the U.K. Clocks were assembled from German parts in high end American shops like Tiffany in New York, Caldwell in Philadelphia and Black Starr and Frost in Boston. The largest of the German firms was Winterhalder and Hofmeier, a company that not only made high quality movements, but also produced the entire grandfather clock along with a line of their own wall and shelf clocks. Some of these German tallcase clocks were spring driven, others weight driven. Some had glass panels in the waist, and some had heavy ornate brass weights and pendulum which were visible through the glass door in the midsection of these clocks. The woods used were either oak or some base wood such as gumwood. The dials were frequently brass with black Arabic numerals. The early hall clocks used multiple hollow tubes and complicated chimes, such as Westminster. Eventually, to save on cost, the more common and simply made bim-bam rod chimes are found in these German grandfather clocks. Here hammers strike their tunes on several long rods found inside the case. By the first decade of the 20th century German clock production, for the first time, surpassed that of England and the U.S.A. Some of the larger and better companies were Mauthe (in Schwenningen), Junghans and the Hamburg-American Clock Company. By the beginning of WW l it is estimated that German clock output was four times that of America. The popularity of German hall clocks or grandfather clocks peaked circa 1910-1915. Following the war, the clock companies never could recover the market that they had dominated in earlier years before the Great War. Following World War II several German clock factories were rebuilt and took part in the rebirth of the Hall clock style. The main players during the second half of the 20th century were Franz Hermle, Urgos, Kieninger, Schatz and a handful of others. American furniture companies, e.g. Colonial, Howard Miller, Ridgeway, Pulaski, Herschede and several others imported German made movements and used them in their American made cases. In Europe, the case and the movement were both made in Germany for export locally. The height of such Hall clock production took place from the mid-1960s up until the early years of the 21st century when demand dropped rapidly across the USA and Europe. German clockmaking firms active making Hall clocks circa 1990 in the black Forest: The major clockmaking firms were Dold-Hettich, Kieninger and Hermle. The fact that such clocks were made by the tens of thousands has caused a severe drop in their value on the secondary market. Clocks retailing for $6000 or more sell today for $500 when the owners try to sell them. Others barely make it past $250. Comparables:::: https://www.barnebys.com/realized-prices/lot/heidelberg-clock-factory-grandfather-clock-e34yvKIuEy (SOLD FOR $600 IN 2019) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/68963237_heidelberg-clock-factory-grandfather-clock (SOLD FOR $300 IN 2019) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/33058302_dold-black-forest-clock-factory-grandfather-clock (SOLD FOR $210 IN 2014) Pricing: Your example is very handsome and very useful as a storage place for curios or antiques. It is in very fine condition. If you tried to sell it into the auction clock market today the fair market value of your clock would range from $400-$500 with retail prices of used clocks would be about 2-3 times that price. I wish I could be bringing you better news, but I am merely the messenger. Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your appraisal. I hope you continue to enjoy your fine clock. Have a happy and safe New Year. My best, David