65.            $500

Hotchkiss & Benedict “Patent Eight-day Brass Clock”, 1834-1836. Hotchkiss and Benedict were partners with Asa Munger, and when Munger quit clockmaking the business reformed as Hotchkiss & Benedict, leaving a clockmaking firm headed by a silversmith (Benedict) and a tailor (Hotchkiss).  The business only lasted two years, in part because the use of NY state prison labor was becoming an issue in Albany, and in part because of poor marketing.  They continued to use Munger-designed movements, now numbered (this one is #2712).  The case is 38 inches tall with mahogany veneer in a clean, old finish.  The carved splat is also mahogany and there are two pilasters on the lower half, with carved capitals.  The dial glass is old and may be original, but some of the putty is newer; the wonderful middle tablet looks too good to be original but shows small lifting that suggests it is.  It is protected by a wooden backboard, as is the bottom mirror, also likely original.  The wooden dial shows light wear and soiling, with the Hotchkiss & Benedict signature below the mainstem; the hands are painted gold, as is commonly found with their clocks.  The 8-day time-and-strike brass movement is dirty and oily but is running and striking; note the unusual mechanism for strike activation with a lift bar above the mainstem.  It strikes on an overhead bell.  There are two 8 lb replacement weights and a gilded lead pendulum that is not like the standard Munger flying eagle.  There is paper inside on the backboard and a good label.  AAC has sold two H&B clocks like this, for$637 and $400; this is the best example of the group.  $500–$750.