Antique American Clocks January 2021
90. $500
James C. Cole banjo, ca. 1830. Cole worked in Rochester NH in the first half of the
nineteenth 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. $600-$900.