GUEST: The clock has been in the family since I've tracked it back to about 1840, so I've had it since 2007.
APPRAISER: Do you remember it running in the house at all?
GUEST: My father said he had it looked at, and he believed it was running, but I was a little concerned with overwinding it, so I've never really tried to get it running.
APPRAISER: Well, what you've brought in is a fabulous English bracket clock. It has what we call an ebonized case, this black case here. It's a great size, and it has a wonderful dial. It has this brass dial with these applied spandrels on the sides, and this is an applied chapter ring, as well as this dial up here, which is a strike silent feature where you can shut off the striking mechanism if it were to keep you up at night.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: Because this does have a five-bell movement and also one bell for the strike, which is really an added complication, which is really nice. It's what we call a quarter striking clock. And that's pretty rare. This clock was made by Nicholas Lambert circa 1730, so it's really early. It's so well done. You can see a signature right here on the dial. Also, you see this is what we call a false pendulum. So when the pendulum in the back goes back and forth, this goes back and forth. And it doesn't have anything to do with the timekeeping; it's just to provide automation to the dial and show you that the clock is running.
GUEST: Alright.
APPRAISER: Also, you'll see on the side here, there's a hole, and there was a cord originally that would come out of here, and when you'd pull it, it would give you the last hour that it struck. So if it was by your bedside at night, you wouldn't have to get up to light a candle to see what time it is. You could pull the cord and it would give you the last hour that it struck.
GUEST: Interesting.
APPRAISER: Which is a nice added complication as well. My favorite part of the clock is this back plate, the engraved back plate. Everything is just over the top, the way it's engraved. It has what we call a cow tail pendulum, and it's missing the bob at the bottom, and that can be fixed. And you can see also the nest of five bells and then the sixth bell here, for the strike. Really, well done. Now, it does have condition issues, but all the condition issues are really quite restorable because they're all brass elements. You would have four brass feet originally on this at the bottom. Also, this is not correct, this urn at the top. This would be a brass handle at the top. In this present condition that it is now, this clock in a retail situation would sell for around $18,000.
GUEST: Not bad.
APPRAISER: And if you were to have it restored, it would make it more saleable, in my opinion, and you probably could get as much as $20,000 for this clock.
GUEST: Okay, very good, thanks.
