Hello Lori,
Thank you for sending in this family Hall clock to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that tonight.
TITLE:
Cherrywood and maple with Dore bronze ornaments, three chain driven weights, eight-day time, strike and quarterly chiming (three choices of chimes) Hall clock (name for the modern grandfather clock since 1898), Model Q-339, cabaret finish, serial number 1112, ‘Tempus Fugit’ Ridgeway clock, using imported German movement and made and sold by the Gravely Furniture Company of Ridgeway, Virginia, circa 1970-1972. (See history below) Accompanied by the original warranty card of the Graveley Furniture Company.
PROVENANCE:
‘My Dad bought it in 1972 and it's been in my family ever since.’
DESCRIPTION:
CASE: 74" high, 18" wide, 11" deep, cherrywood/maple, Hall clock with a caddy top pediment above the canted solid fretwork with applied Dore bronze laurel wreath with tied ribbon bow decoration applied to the fret. Below is a stepped overhung cornice above the tympanum of the hood which has two shaped four-sided panels applied above the dial. The tympanum has an arched cornice above the arched glazed dial door flanked by ebonized and patinated gilt half round colonnettes. Just below the hood is an ogival-shaped moulding transitioning down to the trunk. There is a full length glazed rectilinear door with a horizontal frieze above decorated with a Dore bronze anthemion having a central rosette. The glazed door allows one to observe the fall of the three brass canister weights and the arc of the pendulum as it swings. The trunk door is flanked again by two ebonized and gilt half columns to either side of the trunk façade. A concave moulding leads one down to the square base with inset panel ornamented with a Dore bronze laurel wreath in the center and brass foliate spandrels in each of the four corners. Below that is a short stepped cornice leading down to the broad base moulding which sits flat to the floor with no feet.
DIAL: This is an arched brass dial plate with a silvered Arabic hour chapter ring, applied brass hours in circular cartouche form, foliate half hour markers, textured matte gilt dial center, steel Chippendale-style hands and applied ‘chieftain’ silvered spandrels in the four dial corners. The main dial is marked for Ridgeway in the dial center and at the base of the hour chapter ring, “Western Germany”. The lunette has a global ‘boss’’ marked for Tempus Fugit (Time Flies) flanked by two foliate boss spandrels. A lever above the dial is for setting one of the three choices of chimes: Westminster, Whittington and Winchester.
MOVEMENT: Not shown but would usually be an imported German made movement, either made by Urgos, Franz Hermle or Kieninger, all located in West Germany. The movement would have solid brass plates connected by tubular brass pillars screwed with nuts, washers and screws to hold the two plates together. There would be an anchor recoil escapement, three sprocket gears to take up the manually wound link chain for each of the three weights. They power the clock for eight days, for striking the hours on short metal rods and for playing one of three chimes quarterly by using eight movement hammers striking on eight varying length metal rods. A long pendulum rod and brass bob swings at the back of the movement.
CONDITION: Case – A very handsome and well thought out Hall clock, a bit bulky aesthetically but overall, well balanced, colorful and well made. The case is in very good condition. Dial – excellent condition. Movement – Not seen but assumed original to this case, genuine and remaining functional. As such Hall clocks go this example was made fairly early, circa 1970, at the height of interest in such clocks. Its styling is different than most that I see in that this example has a bit of a neo-classical appearance in the shape of the pediment and in the presence of various types of Greco-Roman ornamentation.
HISTORY of the RIDGEWAY CLOCK COMPANY:
The Ridgeway grandfather clock story is one many decades in the making. The start of this clock making business dates back to 1920’s America when the annual salary was $1,236 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 100. World War I had been over for several years and America was working to hit their stride once more.
The company that started making these renowned clocks was The Gravely Furniture Company of Ridgeway, Virginia. While the country saw growth in wages and life expectancy over the next four decades The Gravely Furniture Company put men and women to work defining a quality that became the Hallmark of the Ridgeway grandfather clock.
It was during the 1960’s that The Gravely Furniture Company focused exclusively on their Ridgeway clocks.
By the 1980’s the U.S. population had doubled since the company opened its doors. While numerous fads were popular with teens during this era their parents were waxing nostalgic. The contemporary art that had been popular from the 1960’s on were becoming passé for many. The well-defined art of yesteryear made The Gravely Furniture Company a prime purchasing opportunity. Therefore, in 1985 the Pulaski Furniture Corporation purchased Gravely and added the Ridgeway grandfather clock to their growing line of home furnishings. The first year of combined sales saw annual revenues in excess of $90 million.
Pulaski was able to offer the Ridgeway clocks with curios and other furnishings that would match and enhance the visual experience of owning one of America’s premier grandfather clocks.
Nineteen years would pass before Ridgeway would change hands once more. Dwindling sales in the 1990’s and early 2000’s saw Pulaski focusing on home furnishings that were consumer driven. Sadly, the Ridgeway clock was not a prime seller during that time and new management at Pulaski worked to find a buyer for Ridgeway. That buyer was Howard Miller Clock Company headquartered in Michigan.
COMPARABLES:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/97313127_maple-ridgeway-grandfather-clock-with-key-and-owners Osold for $100 in 2021)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/80084505_ridgeway-tempus-fugit-grandfather-clock-wweights (sold for $200 in 2020)
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/43292107_tempus-fugit-ridgeway-grandfather-clock (sold for $140 in 2016)
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/ridgeway-tempus-fugit-grandfather-clock-72-c-edb4dd1b8d 9sold for $30 in 2020)
https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/vintage-ridgeway-tall-case-oak-grandfather-clock-2022-c-45d40b08e6 (sold for $35 in 2020)
PRICING:
This particular clock has a special appeal because of its case construction. Nevertheless, the market remains quite weak for such Hall clocks today, as you can see from the comparable prices. I do think that your example if placed at auction or offered for sale would have a fair market value in the $225-$275 price range with retail prices being about twice that.
I hope that this information is of help to you in selling your clock. I enjoyed seeing and appraising it. Thank you for choosing mearto.com
My best,
David