117. $200
Jeromes’ & Darrow bronzed looking glass
with thin movement, 1828. After leaving Eli Terry’s employ after less than a year, in about 1817, Chauncey Jerome began making
pillar & scroll clocks with Terry’s parts for George Mitchell in Bristol, CT, and by 1824 he was making a dwarf tall clock with
his brother Noble, using movements made by Chauncey Boardman. He then formed a partnership with Noble, Elijah Darrow, and Chauncey
Matthews to manufacture a new, taller shelf clock, a reeded pillar & scroll that contained a movement designed by Noble that became
known as a “groaner” movement (Boardman may have had a hand in this). About 1827 Chauncey Jerome formed a new company, Jeromes’
& Darrow, to manufacture “bronzed looking glass clocks”, which he said could be made for less than pillar & scrolls and sold
for more. The first clocks made contained a new movement designed by Noble, now known as the “thin movement”, as found in this
example. This movement was troublesome and was only used for one year before switching to groaner movements and Terry-style
movements. The thin movements allowed the cases to be just 3 inches deep while 34 inches tall, but they were unstable when the
weights were at the top of the case; later cases using the groaner or Terry movements were thicker and less likely to topple over. These clocks always throw me for a loop because the strike train is on the right side, the time train on the left. But there
you have it, the clock that replaced the pillar & scroll because it was more rugged and more fashionable, with the bronzed columns
and large mirror. Chauncey Jerome was the Elon Musk of his day, an industry disruptor. This case has mahogany veneer with
an old finish and some patina. Both the dial glass and the mirror are original; there is a crack at the bottom of the dial glass. I believe the columns and bronzing have been redone. The dial is likely original and has been lacquered, and some chips touched
up; it retains good color in the spandrels. The hands are proper and period. The Noble Jerome thin plate movement runs
briefly and will strike. There are two old 30-hour weights and a dark but complete label. An important clock in the early
history of American clockmaking; AAC sold one last summer for $250. $200–$400.
Antique American Clocks JANUARY 2025