American Tall Case Clock Wooden Works Hoadley

An outstanding American Grandfather clock / Tall Case Clock. It is a wonderful country clock with wooden works made by S. Hoadley of Plymouth. The clock case is of magnificent stature. The wood is cherry and it has a rich and wonderful surface patina and color. I suppose the clock may have been refinished some time long long ago because it truly has a beautiful and glorious surface that shows all the extravagant unmistakable grain of the cherry wood. The face is all hand painted and it is in a remarkable state of preservation - perfect. It is beautifully hand painted and it has the original medallion on the front, it has the original hands and a little hand painted country scene in a reserve at the top of the clock right above 12 o’clock. Flanking each side of the clock face on the bonnet there is a carved cherry column with a brass capital top and bottom it also has three brass finals that decorate a truly elegant fret work frontispiece.

The clock has all wooden works as I mentioned earlier with weight and pendulum. It is a 30 hour movement. My Scottish clock master repair man has just gone over this clock for me and he has an interesting report. He states that the works were restored by someone who knew what they were doing a long time ago and the restorations are minimal. It does have the original weights and pendulum. It has a bell strike locking plate mechanism – circa before 1840. What it needs is new line cord it has wire cord now, pivots are a bit rusty and could use a good polishing. It could stand a nice good overall tightening and tweaking.

It actually has the capacity to run but would run much better once it has been gone over. He said the reason it wouldn’t stay running for very long right now is because this clock has not been wind or used in quite a few years. He said this is very common. Overall he can’t find anything disastrous or major wrong with the works. It has a nice shapely cut out base – and I suppose I can go on and on but if you’re already looking at this clock and reading my description you already know all there is to know about this rare and wonderful scarcity of a clock. Just a little tidbit – the town of Plymouth Hollow, which is now Thomaston, is where Silas Hoadley came in 1810 to buy Eli Terry’s clock business. He went into partnership with Seth Thomas. Together they made fine clocks which are now very much sought after. That was a little bit from an old newspaper clipping which is attached to the inside of the clock door. Pick-up any book on American Clocks and you can find the story of Silas Hoadley – he is world renowned. I especially love it because it is so American. This is my idea of country furniture – it is elegant, well done, completely hand made and just wonderful The clock measures 94” at highest (top finial) x 18 ¼” at widest x 10 ¾”at deepest.