418.    $600

  Louis Boname Neuchatel-style mantel clock, ca. 1895.   An uncommon French antique clock style; not boulle (tortoise shell), but the same shape (Neuchatel, named after a town in Switzerland on the border with France). The wood surface is painted with flowers and at the bottom front are two lovers sitting in a garden.  The images are a bit dark but still visible.  There also are painted flowers on the sides of the case, and the entire case is lacquered and has a lovely antique patina.  There are brass/gilded ornaments all around the 15-inch case, with a large vase at the top.  The 5-inch porcelain dial is practically perfect except for some cracks at the rating adjustment arbor.  On both sides of the case are brass, fabric-covered screens to allow the gong sound to be heard; the clock is running and striking, with a single strike on the hour and half-hour.  I can’t exclude the possibility that it should be counting the hours on the hour, but I did not pull the movement to inspect.  The movement is signed Ls. Boname, Seloncourt.  I found one other example in the Antique Clocks Price Guide, selling for $1600 in 2011 at Schmitt’s.  $600-$1200.