Antique American Clocks July 2020
39. $750
James C Cole banjo, ca. 1830. Cole worked in Rochester NH in the first half of the 19th century
as a clock and watch maker and jeweler. He made tall-case clocks and banjos, but only one other banjo is listed in the Antique
Clocks Price Guide. This banjo is 33 inches tall with a 7-inch painted metal dial that includes his signature, probably restored
in part where there appears to be some inpainting. The minute hand has been repaired. The convex dial glass is a replacement,
as is the finial. Both glasses are old and the eglomise paintings may be original; the throat glass is cracked at the top. Note that there is some molding missing on the left side of the throat. The brass T-bridge pinned movement is unsigned, running
strongly with a lead weight. A rare example from this maker; the clock noted above in the Antique Clocks Price Guide sold at
RO Schmitt’s in 2018 for $2000. $800-$1200.