Seth Thomas Time Recorder, ca. 1935
Watch
GUEST:
I purchased it from the previous abstract title company, and it's been in that company since 1936, that I know of.
APPRAISER:
How long you have owned it?
GUSET: 16 years.
APPRAISER:
16 years.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Well, this particular clock was made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company, and it's an unusual clock, because it was built for a purpose of tracking when people were coming and going. It was probably used in a boarding house or, perhaps, a hotel of some kind. And every room would be assigned a number. When a guest went in and out, they would flip one of these switches, and then when he returned, they probably flipped it back up again. That, in turn, made a mark on a piece of paper that would have been on this roll here, and they would have been able to record the motion of that person over a period of time. It's interesting that this is spring-driven-- big spring here on the fusee-- and it runs through cables over here. The clock itself is pretty basic. Seth Thomas used this movement in a lot of clocks. It probably runs for 15 days. And it's really good quality. It's nice that it has this Minneapolis, Minnesota, Time Recorder Company on it. Do you have any idea what value a clock like this would have?
GUEST:
I don't know. I paid $100 for it.
APPRAISER:
That's pretty good. In today's marketplace, there's a lot of interest in time-recording clocks, and this particular clock, I would probably estimate the value to be about $2,500.
GUEST:
Wow.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
Appraisal Details
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