Scottish Grandfather Clock, ca. 1838
GUEST:
We bought it in 1969 from a dealer in Evanston, Illinois. He said the clock was from Scotland.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, good. This clock-- I don't know, let's do a little detective work here-- was Scottish. I can see a signature on the dial. "A&W Marshall, Wishaw"-- the maker's name, and the town it was made in, about 12 miles, I think, southeast of Glasgow. The clock is interesting because it's a nice height, which helps its value. And one of the things I like a lot about these clocks are the dials, and this is a pretty dial. The spandrels are the areas that are in the corners. Up top is the broke arch, and in the spandrels you have portraits in miniature of four writers-- Walter Scott and Robert Burns and then there are two others here. Also depicted is a scene from the literature "On a Cotter's Saturday Night." So this is very Scottish in nature. In fact, the hands, which are gold-gilt, are in the form of a thistle, which again is the Scottish theme. We go from top to bottom. The rosettes-- I looked at them carefully because I thought there was a good chance they were replaced, they're so good-looking. It isn't typical to find such rosettes. They come right off. They're pinned on, just as they should be, and I believe that they're original, hand-carved rosettes which were put on the clock when it was made. Going down the clock, the feet are original. Many times with a clock like this the feet have been replaced, but these seem to be the original feet, and one of the ways I was able to tell that by was looking at the backboard and seeing the old, oxidized paint and having it extend down. One of the things that this clock did have which is now missing is a finial. There's evidence of that, because you can see that there's a hole in the top of the bonnet. What do you think it's worth today?
GUEST:
Well, we paid $800 for it in 1969...
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
And we're hoping it's worth at least that.
APPRAISER:
Cindy, this clock--if we cleaned it up and we got it in good running order-- and I understand from you that it runs, yeah.
GUEST:
It does run.
APPRAISER:
This clock today in today's market would definitely bring a price of between $6,000 and $7,000.
GUEST:
Oh, good.
Appraisal Details
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