Antique American Clocks January 2021
166. $2500
S.B. Terry double-wind steeple, 1845-1848. It’s very easy to miss the significance of this rather ordinary-looking steeple. It has a well-preserved Fenn tablet and a wooden dial, with only a single winding arbor; however, it has a wire gong strike attached to the movement. Time and strike and only one winding arbor? Silas Burnham Terry, the master of unusual movements, utilized a double-wind movement to drive both trains. The spring is centered in the movement and housed in a brass case; it is running and striking on the hours. I can find only one other example of this model, offered by R.O. Schmitt in 2011, but unsold. The expected price range, $4000-$6000, was not reached. The 30-hour movement is not signed, and if Terry put a label on the inside back it has been overpasted by the J.J. & W. Beals resellers label; the Beals were clock dealers in Boston in the mid-1800’s, buying from many Connecticut manufacturers. The case is veneered in figured mahogany, there are four steeple cones, and both glasses are period/original. As noted, the dial is wooden with period hands. A very rare clock. $2500-$5000.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: I had earlier stated that this was "tandem wind" clock, where you turned the key in opposite directions to wind the strike and the time trains. I am grateful to Jim Price for setting me straight on this: the clock winds in only one direction, but it drives both trains. I checked and this is correct for this example. Sorry for the error.
