Clocks · Clock
John Birge & Co. Eight-Day Shelf Clock, c. 1848
- Maker / attribution
- Unrecorded in source
- Date
- c. 1848
- Historical period
- Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
- Country of origin
- United States
- Object type
- Clock
- Materials / technique
- brass, mahogany, metal, pine, mirrored glass
- Dimensions
- 32.5 x 20 x 6.5 in
- Auction house
- LiveAuctioneers auction archive
- Lot
- Item 245419933
- Credit line
- Auction lot record: lot 278, Haunted Estates: Antiques & Curiosities, Stevens Auction Company (2026), via LiveAuctioneers
- Catalogue title (original)
- John Birge & Co. Eight-Day Shelf Clock (English)
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Record summary
Catalogued by LiveAuctioneers auction archive (lot Item 245419933), this is a clock, made in United States, dated c. 1848. The Atlas places it in the Precision & Scientific Horology period (1750 – 1850) of its Clocks collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: brass, mahogany, metal, pine, mirrored glass. Recorded dimensions: 32.5 x 20 x 6.5 in. 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 — Stevens Auction Company
Maker: John Birge & Co. Origin: Bristol, Connecticut Date: Circa 1848-1849 Period/Style: American Late Classical Materials: Mahogany and figured mahogany veneer, pine backboards, painted dial, mirrored glass, brass movement and metal gong Form: Column-and-cornice shelf clock Description: John Birge & Co. mahogany column-and-cornice shelf clock with a broad coved cornice above turned half-columns and figured veneer panels. The painted Roman-numeral dial has floral corner sprays and an open center revealing the brass works. Mirrored panels fill the center and lower sections. Inside, a coiled gong and pendulum accompany a printed maker's label headed Patent Brass Eight-Day Clocks, with a detailed steam-locomotive engraving titled The Breeze. Pine backboards complete the case. Marks: Printed interior label: JOHN BIRGE & CO., BRISTOL, CONN., with PATENT BRASS EIGHT-DAY CLOCKS and The Breeze locomotive engraving. Dimensions: 32.5 in. H, 20 in. W, 6.5 in. D. Shipping Note: While Stevens Auction Company does not provide packing and shipping services, we do have a list of recommended third-party shippers to assist you in shipping to and from our facility. Please note that property must be removed from our premises within fifteen (15) days following the auction. Property not removed within this time frame is subject to a storage charge of $10 per day per item as outlined in our terms and conditions. Please review our website, stevensauction.com, for a list of recommended shippers and other information. Please contact us at info@stevensauction.com if you require further assistance.
Historical context
Precision & Scientific Horology (1750 – 1850)
Harrison solves longitude; Mudge invents the lever; Breguet's Paris workshop defines the modern watch.
The age of the deadbeat escapement, compensated pendulums and observatory regulators. Domestic clocks spread through the middle classes: English longcase and bracket clocks, French gilt-bronze mantel clocks, Viennese Biedermeier wall clocks, Black Forest painted-shield clocks, and the first American shelf clocks.
Read the period in the timelineMore clocks from this periodEarlier: Early Modern 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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