Posted 12 years ago
wetbird
(1 item)
This clock was handed down to me from my grandmother, who was born in early 1870's. The word GERMANY is stamped in ink on the back panel. Stamped in ink on the inside of one of the small door on one side of the house is what I believe to be the manufacture date OCT 31 1906. Written in pencil on inside of the other small door on opposite side of the house are what appears to be the numbers 10/30/06 and I believe the letters PP. Guessing again, I'm thinking the date of the person who built the clock. Dimensions: height- 17 inches, width- 17 inches, depth- 6 inches. The body of the clock is a light stained wood. The clock itself is brass with steel wires. There are three steel chains and three 8 inch pinecone that weigh at least 5 lbs. each. There are three bellows: two are six ½ inches, one is two ½ inches. Missing is the roof carving, two small carvings on the lower front, and a two 3/4 inch x 1 inch wooded strip on the lower left side of the face, as you look at the clock. Shown are three pictures of my clock and one picture I found on the internet of a clock like mine that has been restored. Unfortunately, that clock was unsigned. I would like to know the manufacturer, verify the date 1906, the estimated worth, and an address of where I might get the clock restored. Appreciate any information. Thankyou.
Very nice clock! Try searching at: http://www.nawcc.org. They have a business directory link where you can look for clock professionals by geographic regions. Good luck.
Check out this link:
http://www.frankenmuthclock.com/partscuckoo
That's an excellent resource toolate2, hope you don't mind but I'm going to..."SWIPE"...bookmark"...that one! :)
A more desirable type with it being a cuckoo AND quail. Definitely 20th century - early part - due to the nuts keeping the movement brass plates secure, as opposed to it being a 'pinned movement' which would indicate 19th century. Cannot give a precise maker, sorry. The usual stamp I see on this type of movement is GHS - standing for Gordian Hettich Und Sohne, but I doubt this one is as it's usually stamped on lower middle of the back brass plate and in yours it has a securing nut.
I posted a similar one with 2 doors and 3 weights. The hands and numbers look like they may have been replaced on mine. What sort of material were the hands and numerals made of on the original GHS cuckoos?
Eza
Both hands and numbers sometimes need to be replaced due to breakages. It's the same idea with a longcase (tallcase) clock where the fine hands sometimes break due to years of use. The original GHS cuckoos' hands and numerals would have been bone. You should be able to tell this on an original one due to the striations (?) on the hands if you look really carefully.
(Kinda hard to tell) the interior wood and "house frame" look like an alder or elm wood(lacking 'figuring' emellished grain pattern)?
The darker fringe pieces look like maybe mahogony or walnut. The intricate nature of the decorative wood, and its lasting near 100 years makes me think a harder/denser wood was used. *names of woods may be translated to their European equivalents as I am not European and do not know the local varieties of these large tree families.
Can't help with woods sadly - definitely not an expert here.