The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-16
CLOCKS SOUGHT
 BY COLLECTORS
CURIOUS TTMEPTEcEs AND WHY
 THEY ARE VALUABLE.
Ehe Marks That Determibe What ts vvorth Havfne--The Grandfather Clocks of England and
 America.

 four or five inches high. and could pe hunr on the bedpost which was where Catherine of Braganza had hers aho vrhara Pepvs saw 1t. He says in ms diary (1664); "s and nef holy va fer At her head as she sleeps. with clock at her beds side wherein lamp burns and tells her the time of night at any time"
 The first record of clock in the Massachusetts colony was in 1szes Lechford mentioned in his notebock for that year that Joseph Stratton had Of his brother a clock and wateh. Tn I640 Henry Parks. of Hartford. left d clock by will to the church.
 These lantern clocks have square body and dome top, and the dial often is so large that 1t extends be- yond the sides of the body. The weights extend below the works on two chains. but in some of the speci- mems found in this country the chains have been shortened and the works altered. The date of these clocks can be told with some degree of accuracy by the style of fret or brass ornament which stands in front of the dome The earliest and a favorlte pattern for years has two dolphins with crossed tails and is called the dolphin fret
 It was said to have originated with Thomas Tompion, of London, fam ous clockmaker who lived during the last of the seventeenth century and died in. 1713A He was called the fa- ther of English clockmaking and has left a more enduring fame than any of his contemporaries, and incidentally more clocks.
 Next to Tomf on, the two most fam- ous >watchmakers of this time were Daniel Quare, who succeeded Tompioh and died ins- 1725, and George Graham, who followed Quare and died in l7T5. It is a curious fact that they all be- of FTrfanAa
 Besides the dolphin fret there were other patterns, the heraldic fret fol- lowing the dolphin. This was coat- of-arms with scroll work on either side This design was not used till 1850, so any clocks bearing this design are after that date.
 Bracket cIocks--that is, short clocks mads>to stand on shelf or bracket-- were also early patterns, and there are many of them in thls country. one very fine one being sheltered at White Plains, N Y., where 1t has been in the owners family for more than a century and half, and 1t still keeps excellent time
 Indeed there are probably more of these old clocks tucked away than peo- pie suppose. Many of the modern clockmakers cannot repair them; mod ern clocks are cheap and there has been such tendency to tuck away old things that the old clock went, too.
 The bracket clocks were followed by long case or grandfather clocks, and there are many admirable specimens of the latter to be found here,
 To the Best English clocks 1t was usual to apply either tho gridiron pen dulum or Harrison or the mercurial pendulum of Graham. A good fact to bear in mind in most case clocks made before 1900 was thirtyenine inches. that is, after the Iong pendulum came into use at all. The first pendulums were called bob pendulums because they swung so far to the side that it was necessary to cut slitg in the side of the case to allow them to swing free. Many clocks which started with bob penduIums were later supplied with long pendulums, which came into use about the year 1880.
 Tompion and William Clement we're both of them making long eass clocks by 16s0-sl, and these clocks have peeuliarities which are plainly marked In the first place, the dials were square, and the wooden hood which covered dial and works had to be lifted off to permit the clock to be wound.
 Now, word as to these early dials. The first things to be observed are the hour circles. Before the minute hand came into use the double circles seen on the mantel clocks were in use. Between them the hours are di- vided into quarters, the half hour be- ing shown by an extra ornament like a dagger on a fleur de lys.
 After the minute hand was added, besides the double circles showing the numerals denoting the hours and the smaller figures showing the minutes, there wsre marks on the outer edge of the dark circle showing the quar- ters. The dials of the period of Will liam III and of Queen Anne were en- riched by beautiful engraving, and the metal was not only brass but silver as well, and there were ornaments of ormoIH in the form of figures and scrolls a
 Not scrap of the face was left un- decorated. On the extreme edge was placed a border of leaves or a her ring bone pattern. The whole interior of the hour circle was filled with flowers, scrolls or set patterns, either engraved or etched, and about the winding holes were extra circles and w-eaths
 The earliest seventeenth century clocks had the names of the makers put on in Latin, and set straight across the bottom of the dial. The next pe riod showed the makers name placed across the lower part of the dial face between the figures V and VII. It is safe to say that these two methods of marking were prior to 1750, 
 used, and makers consulted their own taste in the matter. sometimes entireS ly emitting their names and substitut- ing a motto, like "Tempus Fugtt," or even couplets like;
 Slow comes the hour; It's passing speed
 how great
 Waiting to seize 1t, vigilantIy walt!
 The cases as well as the faces. had peculiarities of their own. On the up- per part of the case will be found carved spiral pillars, such as are to be seen on the carved chairs of the same period. These pillars were occa- sionally finished off with gilt piias- ters, and on Tompion's clocks there were pillars at the back as well as on the front of the case.
 When everything Dutch was tbe fashion and Dutch King sat on the throne of England, marquetry cases were in vogue, and many clocks show English works housed in Dutch cases In some cases the marquetry of col ored woods was enriched with mother of-pearl, and there are in ...is couu- try clocks set in cases of splendid lacquer, like the one which belonged to Thomas Hancock, and descended to John Hancock, and Is now in the Bos- ton Museum of Fine Arts
 Besides the names already mentioned of Tompion, Quare and Graham there were other makers whose clocks can be found here. Edward East sent over some clocks by 1890 in splendid cases.