229.           $50

Wm. L. Gilbert Clock Co. “Gilt No. __”, ca. 1900.  Gilbert made many novelty clocks like this with cherubs (winged male infants) surrounding or supporting a clock, all cast in bronze. This model is not found in Ly’s book Gilbert Clocks but it is very similar to several others shown on page 369.  The art nouveau clock is 13.5 inches tall with two cherubs at the base and a small figure surmounting the case.  There are upturned sea shells at the base, front and back, for holding small jewelry.  The bronze case probably was gilded with a “rich ormulu gold satin finish” but that has been polished off.  There is now a verdigris patina.  The convex dial is decorated porcelain with no flaws, behind a flat beveled glass in a brass sash.  The gold hands may not be original.  These were one-day clocks, time and half-hour strike on a small nickel bell.  The movement is signed and running, but is out of beat and will need adjustment; even the pendulum bob, which hangs outside the case is the back, is a small figurehead.  A better-than-average example of an art nouveau clock from the turn of the last century.  $50–$150.