Description
J.A. Wells oversize OG steeple with wagon-spring movement, ca. 1847. The giant OG case is 26 inches tall with good mahogany veneer and two old/original glasses. The tablet of the US Capitol (note the misspelling on the legend) is original with considerable losses. The dial is a modern replacement, done by The Dial House; the hands are proper replacements. The movement is not original but is correct, and matches the movement found in two other examples; it was made by Chauncey Boardman and is unmarked. I was not able to test it as the twine is unwrapped from the spool on the power transfer wheel (torque converter) above the 30-hour wagon-spring movement; that should not be hard to fix. Both wheels and the tie-down bar were remanufactured, the power transfer base and wagon-spring mechanism are original; the two brass chains are modern replacements. You can see an example of this model in Roberts, The Contributions of Joseph Ives to Connecticut Clock Technology, 1810-1862 (Revised Second Edition) in Figures 131A–C, pages 283–284. There is a good label on the back wall. This is one of four known examples; I can find no sales records. $6000–$10,000.
Record courtesy of AntiqueAmericanClocks.com