28.                  $400

Hotchkiss & Benedict empire shelf clock, 1834-1836.  As noted with #27, Hotchkiss and Benedict bought out Asa Munger in Munger & Co. and continued to use Auburn prison labor to make clocks until they went bankrupt in the panic of 1837.  Here the case is 37.5 inches tall with flame mahogany veneer; note the flat columns with carved capitals on the lower half.  The splat has a long horizontal split and has been repaired.  The dial glass is original, the mirror likely so, with a crack in the lower left corner. The wooden dial is clean with gilding in the spandrels, a Hotchkiss & Benedict imprint below the mainstem, proper hands (the minute hand is a slightly off replacement), and a proper “pointing hand” seconds hand.  The 8-day, time-and-strike brass movement is No. 2911, dated 1836, with a bell on top and driven by two compounded 8-day replacement weights (they should be long round weights, as found on #27) suspended on four brass pulleys (one is a replacement).  It is running and striking without issue, regulated by a worn eagle pendulum bob.  The interior is papered with a printed label applied in the middle.  They made these cases in various forms, including with black and gold dials and a split mirror in the bottom panel, with a reverse-painted tablet on top. Recent prices range from $325 to $1100 on LiveAuctioneers.  $400–$800.