I took the liberty of going through my own reference materials between the last post and this post, (yes, without telling you..sorry 'bout that!)....and found something!
A Canadian clock book!
But, no sign of this clock.
I decided to check out some of my general guides, one in particular, UNITT'S. I have a stack of older ones I picked up at another dealer's estate sale. They are handy to have, as they feature much Canadian made stuff, so if I can't find it in an American guide or British guide, sometimes it pops up in an old Unitt's price guide. There are not many reference books on Canadian items...that is, in comparison to the number of publications of books on US, European, and other nations' products.
I did trip across this in 2 of the Unitt's books, oddly enough! It is German made, though...this one has a Union Jack on top, so it was being geared towards the Canadian market.
Recognize it from the previous blog?
Anyway, one of the guides turned out to be a Unitt's Canadian Clock guide (which I didn't remember having), but contained no information on the clock I am researching.
So, I flipped through other Unitt's guides, and found something else I have been researching off and on for a couple years...and happened to have bought at the same dealer's estate auction....
And the previous page's top corner was folded down at that spot!
SO, now I know exactly what they are. Here are mine:
Had suspected these were "back bar" decanters to begin with, but wasn't 100% sure. I collect saloon related items a bit, and will be building a saloon in the basement of the B&B, so they fit in that scheme of things well. They aren't quite identical to those pictured in the book, but close enough to pin their identity down further than I had prior to this accidental discovery.
I thought they might be for a particular brand of whiskey or other hard liquor, maybe even wine, and have been trying to identify that brand. They still might be meant for a specific firm's spirits, even...more research to do, I guess. I might offer one, the other or both for sale online yet, we'll see. Have bills to pay!
So, the clock....hmmm....well, where shall we venture....what road shall we take?
Let's go back to that note...
French or German...ok, let's see where that takes us.
Let's try that antique clock site....and click on "Country."
Germany has less....by a thousand, so let's start there...
Man, I don't know...seems like a fair bit of browsing, and a needle in a haystack, still.
Let's get a new window open, and try Google....
Ok, "German Mantle Clock" and searching by IMAGE. I like the "Image" feature...handy sometimes.
Hmmm...paging down, down and down....and nothing.
Ok, how about "French Mantle Clock"?
That was fruitless, too...
SO, maybe it is Canadian?
Let's see...."Canadian Mantle Clock"...kind of sparse...very few clocks even pictured...
Canadian Shelf Clock, maybe? I got 2 images...the same clock...how about you?
Ok, this is getting no where....
Lets try to determine the "era" is was made...narrow SOMETHING down, anyway...
The pattern "carved" into the base and top appear to be machine made.....
Wait....look closer!
Notice anything?
OK, OK, other than my photography skills aren't the best? Ya buncha smart a****. Harumph....
Look at those two curly-cue things near the round carved bits on the base...and compare them each to the other.
They certainly are different...indicating they are hand carved....and the "hesitation marks" at the bottoms of the grooves of the middle carving and those curly-cues indicate that they were hand carved, also....darn tough to create a perfectly even depth and a curve in one steady swoop of a blade.
GREAT! This bodes well for us!
Hmmm...tough to tell.
I need a pair of calipers....the only ones I can seem to remember where they are happen to be outside in the van...or inside with a pile of junk I cleaned out of the van...going on a hunt....save me one of those beverages you are drinking, would you?
***********************************Time Passes*************************
BACK! I got a cup of tea, a book on Lionel trains...oh, wait a sec...I was looking for calipers, wasn't I?
***********************************MORE Time Passes*************************
Ok, back again...and yes, I have the calipers:...
Happy? Good....and yes, they are vintage as well...
Down to business...
Let's measure the width of the loops in the molding....
One...
Two....
Three...
WHOA! A difference in width in this one!
And there is not a repeating pattern of this wider one, either...SO...
The MOLDING is hand carved, also!
Ok, I know, I know, I'm getting a bit over dramatic....and, yes, the gig's up....I didn't need calipers for this myself, I spotted the variations in the widths with the "naked eye"......
But, as you are training your eyes, they come in handy, to prove to yourself you aren't seeing things that you WANT to see that are not there....and to prove facts like this to others who disbelieve your statements.
And, here is a tip, for those times you have no caliper...for me that is 99% of the time.
Look at the smallest bits of carving...they're even tougher to carve to look identical.
I have marked the areas you need to compare with a bright green "X".
Better to have a trained eye, especially if you tend to forget to bring things with you like I do.
"C'mon, jump through the hoop, boy! Good, good eyeball, good boy....."
SO, if you are done laughing (or groaning, whichever), we'll get on with the research...
Also, to closely check out the carving and such, especially those little details such as hesitation marks, carry a magnifying glass. A small, inexpensive pocket loupe works fine...just a 10X is good.
Hmmm...you know, we forgot something...to try "American Mantle Clocks" in Google...
Ya should have said something for crying out loud! (Notice how I smoothly passed part of the blame on to you?)
So, let's see how that works...
"American Mantle Clock" as an Image search...
Hmmm...this is sort of like it...
But, this is a different and better quality wood, finger hands, etc...but, the solid glass door, pendulum visible, and a couple other things are alike...let's check it out closer.......
Here is mine/ours:
SO, American, maybe? But, can't jump to that final conclusion, yet.
Let's archive that photo in the favourites...there we go....
Looking closer, they estimated it at 25 Pounds - 35 Pounds.
HEY! Did I hear "I doesn't look that heavy!" from the back there?
Ha ha. Very funny...
NO, not weight...that is their currency...their "dollar"..so that is about $50....but, an American clock, no attribution to a maker, selling in Britain might fetch only that, I guess.....but, kind of disheartening, isn't it? But, that is not OUR clock...ours is a much better piece, right??? And who knows what that one in the British auction actually sold for...
I hope so....let's try to prove it, ok?
Let's check out some more....
Hmmm...after clicking and following a few more dead ends, we still have little to go on....
Well, maybe we can tentatively call it an American Mantle or Shelf Clock with hand carved details....
More than we knew a couple blogs ago!
How about that antique clock site?
Under "Countries"?
USA?
Ugggghh...13,000+ clocks listed...!
Just got a flashback....reading that number made me see a 2 foot high stack of homework from Junior High School...
Well, will pan through it all...and, seeing as that is going to take me quite some time, I'll end the blog here for now!
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