55. $250

E. W. Adams Patent Eight Day Brass Clock, 1836–1837. Adams worked with Chauncey Marshall in Seneca Falls, NY from 1834 to 1836, when he bought out Marshall. Adams went broke the next year and left town under suspicious circumstances, loading his remaining stock and equipment onto a flat boat and heading down the Seneca River, eventually ending up in Chillicothe OH. This Empire case is 40 inches tall with dark mahogany veneer on the sides and columns; I believe the veneer on the door frames has been replaced. The case has a glossy but old finish; note the large paw feet and turned feet in back. All four glasses are period, although the dial glass may be a replacement; the three tablets are also period/original. The red draperies on the bottom tablet are typical of Adams (see here and here). The colorful wooden dial has been professionally cleaned, with wonderful spandrels, but it is not original to this clock, as old winding holes have been filled and new ones drilled. The hands are appropriate but modern. The strap-brass 8-day, time-and-strike movement is unsigned, and identical to movements found in other Adams clocks; note the front-mounted count wheel for the strike. It is running and striking as expected, driven by two 8-day iron weights. The backboard should be covered with a color lithograph, typical of Adams, but it is missing, and only shreds of it and perhaps another label are present. It is possible that there was an Ohio label overpaste, as Adams sold old stock from Chillicothe. AAC sold two very nice examples last summer for $400 and $425. $250–$400.