46.                   $3500

John Hunt oversize OG steeple, ca. 1850.  An absolutely gorgeous 29-inch walnut-veneer case with a polished finish.  Both glasses are period, the dial glass almost certainly original, the lower glass a likely replacement and repainted to show the State House at Hartford, CT, probably adapted from a lithograph by Edward Williams Clay in 1834 (see image).   The backboard is beveled at the edges to blend into the side trim pieces.  The dial has been repainted, the hands are proper replacements.  The 8-day, time-and-strike movement is unsigned, running and striking on the wire gong; it was likely made by Wells, Hendrick & Co. in Bristol CT (Snowden Taylor, NAWCC Bulletin 270, page 16) and was found in another John Hunt oversize steeple much like this one (Dworetsky & Dickstein,Horology Americana, page 179).  The movement was adapted from a weight-driven movement, so to hold springs in place, it appears that false count wheels were placed on the front of each winding drum (NAWCC Supplement No. 9, pages 58–59).  The mounting of the movement with additional inside rails and a lowered seat board is also consistent with the adaptation of this clock to a spring-driven movement.  The label is also from a weight-driven movement, with instructions on how to attach and wind the weights.  John Hunt was a case maker and cabinet maker in Plainville, CT, and did not make a lot of clocks, but the ones he made in his later years, like this one, are exceptional.  This clock last sold at R.O. Schmitt in 2014 for $6500; there are only two examples of this model known.  $3500–$5000.