113.             $250

Rodney Brace three-panel shelf clock, ca. 1825. Brace made clocks in several styles, usually with Torrington east-west wooden, 30-hour movements, as found here.  This is a beautiful case, and the only one in this style with a Brace label that I can find on LiveAuctioneers.  Note the carved half-columns and extraordinary carved splat with an eagle atop the crest.  The eagle was broken off some time ago and remounted, not particularly well.  Wooden urn finials on the chimneys, paw feet in front and turned feet in back.  The three glasses are old, possibly original, with two original tablets, the lower tablet touched up at the face and hair.  Brace did not use Torrington movements exclusively; in some of his clocks you can find a standard Terry wooden movement.  I am not convinced this clock originally contained a Torrington movement; the movement does not fit well, and the ends look as though they have been sawn off to narrow the width. Note the splinters on the front left edge; in addition, the ageing on the cut ends does not match the ageing on the other edges.  On the back wall there is a penciled square (see photo) that suggests (to me) that this clock was intended to have a Terry-type movement and may have had one at one time (it’s possible that Brace substituted a Torrington movement into the case intended for a standard movement).  To further confuse the issue, the wooden dial is not original to this case or to this Torrington movement, with filled winding holes and new holes drilled.  The dial does not mount securely to the case.  Because the weight cords are broken the movement was not tested, and there are no weights.  There is a pendulum bob and a good label on the backwall.  This clock sold at Bonhams Skinner in 2009 for $1500.  $250–$500.