David

Mearto specialist

Hello Josh, Thank you for sending in this floor standing “Hall” clock to mearto.com for an appraisal. I shall try to help you with that tonight. TITLE: Stained and lacquered golden Oak, three weight, eight-day time, strike and quarterly chiming, Hall clock in an architectural, modern contemporary style, with imported Kieninger movement number 3029, Model 0997-1-ST, Registration # 198-0140-6049A, made and sold by the Sligh Furniture Company of Holland, Michigan, Circa 1990. (See History section) PROVNANCE: It was my grandmother’s clock. Age of the clock is 31 years DESCRIPTION: Case: Height-86.5” Width- 15” Length - 26”, this is a solid oak cased Hall clock (aka modern grandfather clock) with the hood having a stepped, concave and scalloped- moulded pediment above a tripartite tympanum centering a panel of a carved ‘sheaf of wheat’. The tympanum has an arched cornice above the arched glazed dial door with rococo brass key escutcheon and flanked by the full length fluted oak case columns. There are rectangular glazed side-lights on both sides of the hood. Below the dial door is the rectangular beveled and glazed trunk door with shaped wooden ends. It also is flanked by the continuing bold fluted corner columns on the case. The base of the columns have carved vasiform patterns. Below is the short horizontally oriented base with the center inset and the sides thrust forward in an architectural manner. The base has a recessed panel edged in dentil moulding with well grained plinths to either side. All rest on a stepped concave moulded base sitting flat to the floor. Dial: Dial # 2790, likely made by Kieninger in Germany. Round silvered brass Arabic hour chapter ring in cartouche form with foliate half hour makers, silvered subsidiary continuous seconds dial under the twelve, steel Chippendale hands, three winding apertures for the weights, open gilt brass filigree work in the dial center with a plaque for “Sligh” over the six. The spandrels have silvered filigree work in foliate designs, and in the upper spandrels a chime/silent dial on the left and a choice of three chimes or silent sub-dial on the right. The lunette has a revolving moon dial with the lunar month above it (29 ½ days=one lunar month) and two stylized hemispheres below. Movement: Not Shown and case is filled with packing so I will make a guess as to the movement. Thought to be made by the Kieninger Clock Company of Germany, numbered 3029, a movement that features 16 hammers, in two groups of eight striking 16 metal rods (in two groups of eight) of varying length for its quarterly chiming. This movement has an anchor recoil escapement and is powered by three gilt brass canister weights, each suspended from pulleys and wound from the dial onto their respective barrel drums inside the movement plates. The three weights power the movement for approximately eight days, fully strike/chime on the hour and plays one’s choice of chimes on the quarter hours. There is likely a long brass and steel gridiron pendulum rod with brass lyre ornament placed just above the large pendulum bob. Condition: In very good overall condition, including the case, dial and the original, genuine and functional German made movement. HISTORY: Sligh Furniture Co. - 1880: Charles Sligh, 30, opens a bedroom furniture factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1926: The furniture industry recession begins. 1932: Recession is amplified by Great Depression; stockholders vote to liquidate company to pay debts. 1933: Charles R. Sligh Jr., 27, acquires assets of his father’s company and opens a factory in Holland, Michigan. 1950-60s: Half of its business is dormitory furniture, capitalizing on Baby Boomers heading to college. 1968: Robert L. Sligh, 40, becomes president, and the company acquires the Trend Clock Co. in Zeeland, Michigan. It appears that Trend was also initially a furniture company that, like Sligh, purchased German movements for cases that they built in Zeeland, Michigan. 1970-80s: Desks and clocks fuel sales. 1990s: Rob Sligh, 36, becomes president. The company focuses on high-end wood office furniture. 2002: Sligh enters the home entertainment furniture market. 2005: The company sells the clock business and shutters the Holland plant, moving production out of the U.S. to capitalize on cheap labor and parts. COMPARABLES: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/95705819_sligh-oak-grandfather-clock-working-6-11-h-x-2-w-x-13 (sold in 2021 for $250) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/95433279_sligh-mahogany-inlaid-grandfather-clock-w-moon-face (sold for $425 in 2020) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/88763442_sligh-oak-grandfather-clock (sold for $130 in 2020) https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/86530110_sligh-stained-mahogany-tall-case-clock (sold for $300 in 2020) PRICING: This is a very handsome floor standing Hall clock. The problem is that such clocks in the last quarter of the 20th century were made by the tens of thousands and during these past two decades they have become far less popular on the market. It is the same with the entire antique market place over the past twenty years. Therefore, despite its good condition and having its own presence in a room, the fair market value of such an item when sold today would range from $250-$350, with a retail price about double that. This is despite the fact that such clock when bought back in the 1980s and 1990’s cost $3000+/-. I wish I could give you better news, but I am only the messenger here. Thank you for choosing mearto.com for your appraisal. My best, David