My Grandfather’s Clock

Actually it’s my mother’s clock


It’s an English longcase clock
In the early sixty’s my grandfather was an antique dealer in Lancaster County, PA. My uncle, his only son, became a dealer in the mid sixties. This clock was acquired by my uncle and sold to my parents with help of a small loan from my grandmother. That is pretty much the full history of the clock as I knew it until yesterday.


We were fairly certain that it was an English clock but knew no more than that. There were no identifying marks anywhere on the clock. We knew that there was a painted dial under the engraved brass dial but had never seen it.

My mother has recently moved and the clock has taken a trip to the clock shop before being relocated. The clock shop has exposed the painted dial as they perform fifty year maintenance procedures.



The clock appears to made by an English clockmaker named James Edwards of Stourbridge. Stoubridge is an industrial area 12 miles west of Birmingham (and place of manufacture of the first steam locomotive ever to operate in the United States, the Stourbridge Lion ).

I don’t yet know when Mr Edwards of Stourbridge manufactured his clocks.

The painted dial reveals that the clock originally had a movement with only two winding spindles protruding through the dial. Three additional holes have been drilled in the painted face to accommodate the three spindles of the current eight day movement. It is likely that the clock originally had a 30 hour movement which was replaced with the eight day movement with the chimes to make life more comfortable and convenient for the owner of the clock. A little Google time tells me this was not uncommon.

The engraved brass dial makes the story a little more interesting. While almost imperceptible from the front, the brass dial was also drilled to fit the original two spindle movement. Those older holes were carefully plugged, filled, and polished and then the engraving detail was carefully replicated. These plugged holes show clearly on the back of the dial. It appears that the brass dial was added some time before the clock was upgraded to the current movement. It would seem that whoever installed the movement now in the clock was skilled craftsman.





So that’s everything I know about the clock today. I am hoping to learn more and will share it as I find it. Meanwhile, if someone should stumble across this site who can tell me something about this clock or its clockmaker or who could point me along the way, I would appreciate hearing your comments.

Addendum; 3 April

I have learned a little bit more about the clock today. The back of the painted dial contains a “falseplate” used for attachment to the movement. The falseplate is stamped “S Baker Birmingham”.

A Google search yielded this interesting site with information on dating painted dials and an index of dialmakers.

…the people who made the dials which the clockmakers used. The clockmaker's name is usually on the dial, but the dialmaker's name is often stamped on the reverse of the dial or cast into the "falseplate".

BAKER, SAMUEL - BIRMINGHAM - clock dials 1823 to 1850

http://www.dialrestorer.co.uk/7.html


I have posted a few more pictures of the clock on my Flickr photo sharing site. You can view them as a slide show or download full-size images there.
Check them out.