David

Mearto specialist

Hello Dawn, Thank you for sending in this old Ansonia clock to mearto.com for an appraisal. TITLE: Black patinated cast iron, dual spring driven, eight day time and hour/half hourly striking mantel clock in a neoclassical style with a visible escapement, Loire model, made by the Ansonia Clock Company of New York City, made circa 1904 (first year in the Ansonia catalog.) PROVENANCE: It is not known who owned this clock prior to my grandparents who discovered this when they purchased their house in Jersey City in the 1940s. The home itself was built in the 1800s. DESCRIPTION: CASE: 12.25” in height and 15.25 inches in length, this is a neo-classically styled cast iron clock case which has been enameled in black and green. The top of the case has the triangular Greco-Roman pediment with a plaque of concentric triangular form set into the tympanum depicting neo classical soldiers fighting with spears, shields, bows and arrows and in the center, the leader or one of the gods with the sun’s rays shining down on him. There is a square central façade in the middle of the case. It holds the egg and dart decorated glazed bezel overlying the dial. The bezel hinge is on the left. The central façade is flanked by two porticos to either side, one slightly higher than the other. The smallest of the porticos has a single vertically fluted colonnette with brass capitals and bases. Further out to both sides, the larger portico is supported by two vertically fluted black patinated columns with similar brass capitals and bases. (Total of six pillars) There is a sharply canted moulding below the façade leading down to the broad ebonized iron base, sitting flat to the surface without feet. The back of the case is undecorated and has an opening providing access to the movement placed behind the dial. DIAL: This is a white enameled porcelain dial, 5 inches in diameter, with Roman hours and closed bar minute track to the outside. There is a Brocot opening above the twelve for changing the speed of the movement from the dial side. (Achille Brocot invented this means of changing the speed of the movement without having to open up the back of the case in the early 1840s, and by the 1850s it was in use throughout France.) The slightly recessed dial center has an outside or visible escapement along with steel French “Simple Roman” hands (one hand appears to be missing). The Ansonia trademark of an ‘A’ within a square within another square is seen in the lower dial center and the base of the dial is marked, “Manufactured by the Ansonia Clock Company New York United States of America”. MOVEMENT: This is a skeletonized brass plate movement with pillars connecting the front and rear plates and screwed together with screws and nuts at the back plate (a post 1900 procedure). The movement has an anchor recoil escapement with two coiled steel springs that power the clock for a duration of eight days and cause striking on the coiled cathedral gong seen sitting below the left side of the movement (looking from the back). Striking is on the hour and half hour. The back plate is cast with the wording, ‘Ansonia Clock Co., Patented June 14, 1881, New York, USA’ with the Ansonia logo partially hidden. The brass crutch is seen extending out from between the plates, but no pendulum rod is present. CONDITION: Case- Multiple chips along the case edges especially around the base mouldings and the pediment. Some of the dark green paint is worn off of the colonnettes. The frieze in the tympanum is dirty and darkened from oxidation. Condition of the case is poor to fair. Dial: Dial fractures seen at the 40 and 47 minute markers. Oxidation of the metal ring separating the two parts of the dial. I can only see one hand, perhaps they overlie one another or a hand is most likely missing. Condition is fair to poor. Movement: Needs a total overhaul and cleaning and likely does not function. The pendulum rod and pendulum bob are missing. Condition is fair at best. COMPARABLES: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/56604155_an-ansonia-loire-enameled-iron-case-mantel-clock (SOLD AT AUCTION IN 2017 FOR $140) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/10871625_32-ansonia-loire-iron-case-mantel-clock (SOLD AT AUCTION IN 2012 FOR $130) PRICING: At the height of the clock market in the late 1990s, the Loire model in pristine condition was $375. Today in that same condition the fair market value would be about $125. In the fair to poor condition of this old fella the fair market value would be in the range of $50-$60. I wish I had better news for you about this clock, but I am just the messenger. Thank you for choosing mearto.com for this appraisal. My best, David