There were, however, two very good pieces of early American furniture. Eighteenth-century japanned furniture was never produced in sizable quantities in this country. The labor-intensive steps required to produce the lacquered surfaces with gilt or colored raised decorations meant that only the wealthy could afford such pieces. Highboys, lowboys or dressing tables, mirror frames, a few chairs, and tall clocks are usually the forms found with japanned surfaces. Collectors and museums have avidly sought such examples since the early years of collecting, so very few examples are available to today's buyers.
Pieces attributed to, or signed by, known makers are rarer still.
But someone stuck a colored ad under my windshield at another auction, and when I looked at it, I thought, jeez, maybe there's a chance this thing is real, so I came to see. It was indeed a genuine Boston tall clock with japanned finish and clock works by Gawen Brown of Boston. Brown made clocks in Edlingham, England prior to coming to Boston, and some of those signed examples are known. Nothing is ever written in stone in this business, but that connection with Thomas Johnson is about as solid evidence as you could get outside of a Johnson signed case. The dial is signed and states Boston.