Clocks · Clock
A Seth Thomas Rosewood Shell Column Shelf Clock, c. 1866
- Maker / attribution
- SETH THOMAS (maker)
- Date
- c. 1866
- Historical period
- Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
- Country of origin
- Unrecorded in source
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- rosewood, shell, gilt
- Auction house
- LiveAuctioneers auction archive
- Lot
- Item 31395969
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 490, HAC Fine Art & Antiques Auction - Day 1, Houston Auction Company (2014), via LiveAuctioneers
- Catalogue title (original)
- A SETH THOMAS ROSEWOOD SHELL COLUMN SHELF CLOCK, (English)
View the source record (auction lot) ↗ (opens another website in a new tab)Suggest a correction
Record summary
Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 31395969), this is a clock by SETH THOMAS, dated c. 1866. The Atlas places it in the Industrial Revolution period (1850 – 1900) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: rosewood, shell, gilt. The record is illustrated with 4 photographs.
Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.
Catalogue description
Lot description — Houston Auction Company
A SETH THOMAS ROSEWOOD SHELL COLUMN SHELF CLOCK, PLYMOUTH, CONNECTICUT, CIRCA 1866-1875, the rosewood veneered clock with faux tortoiseshell painted engaged columns with gilt painted capitol and base, the door with reverse painted leaf decoration centering painted rose within roundel, the painted metal dial with Roman numerals, chapter ring, and rose decoration to the corners, 8-day weight driven movement. NOTE: The interior retains the original label (including operating instructions) reflecting the name change of Plymouth, Connecticut to Thomaston, which occurred in 1875. The disparity between the Plymouth mark on the clock works and the Thomaston location on the label suggests that the clock parts were manufactured prior to 1875, but the clock was not assembled and sold until after 1875. Height: 25" Width: 14 7/8" Depth: 4 1/4"
Historical context
Industrial Revolution (1850 – 1900)
American interchangeable-parts manufacture; railroad time standards; Swiss and German factory systems.
Factory production transformed the clock into an everyday object. American makers (Seth Thomas, Ansonia, Waterbury) and German factories (Junghans, Gustav Becker, Lenzkirch) sold millions of shelf, wall and alarm clocks worldwide; France produced standardised Paris movements and carriage clocks; electric time distribution began.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Precision & Scientific Horology
Atlas type guide
Bracket, table and spring-driven clocks
Spring-driven clocks freed timekeeping from the hanging weight. The coiled mainspring, documented from the fifteenth century, made portable table clocks possible; to even out its declining force, makers used the fusee, a conical pulley connected to the barrel by a gut line or chain. Renaissance table clocks from Augsburg and Nuremberg — drum-shaped, square or tower-shaped in gilt brass — were luxury scientific objects, often with astronomical dials and alarms.
After the pendulum, English makers developed the bracket clock: a wooden case with a carrying handle, a short pendulum with a verge escapement, and often repeating work to sound the hours on demand at night. Later examples use the anchor escapement. In the nineteenth century, 'table clock' became a broad term for spring clocks of every nationality.
What to look for
- A fusee in the movement (cone-shaped pulley) and the type of line — gut or chain.
- Verge escapement with a short bob pendulum, often with a decoratively engraved backplate.
- Repeat cords or buttons that make the clock strike again on demand.
- Gilt-brass engraved cases and horizontal dials on Renaissance pieces.
- Case shapes: inverted bell, bell top, break-arch, lancet or balloon.
Dating clues
- Drum and tower table clocks: c. 1520–1650.
- Ebony veneered English bracket clocks with verge escapements: c. 1670–1800.
- Engraved backplates were usual on English clocks until c. 1800, then generally plain.
General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.
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