Turn your speakers way up and listen closely.
That's easy if you grew up with such a clock. When you walked in the door, you heard the last bong of 12. Half an hour later, a single bong marked the half hour, 12:30. At one o'clock it bonged once, and at 1:30 it bonged again to mark the half hour.
You might want to turn your speakers back down a little. BONG!
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| Dad polished the brass numerals and varnished the face. Well intentioned, but it destroyed the precious patina that antique dealers cherish. |
Mission Style originated in the late 19th century in the US and is associated with the American Arts and Crafts movement, but the term owes little to actual missions. Wikipedia explains the design philosophy of Mission Style furniture as follows:
Mission style is a design that emphasizes simple horizontal and vertical lines and flat panels that accentuate the grain of the wood (often oak, especially quarter sawn white oak). People were looking for relief after the excesses of Victorian times and the influx of mass-produced furniture from the Industrial Revolution. The furniture maker Gustav Stickley produced Arts and Crafts furniture often referred to as being in the Mission Style, though Stickley dismissed the term as misleading. This was plain oak furniture that was upright, solid, and suggestive of entirely handcrafted work, though in the case of Stickley and his competitors, was constructed within a factory by both machine and handworking techniques. [2]Craftsman Furniture refers to the Arts and Crafts Movement style furniture of Gustav Stickley's "Craftsman Workshops," so-named in 1903 and operating until 1916. [3]
Although Stickley despised the term "Mission Style" as misleading, the present-day Stickley Furniture Company features a Mission Oak Collection of reproductions. The Morris chair is well known, and their tall case clock reissued in 1989 remains "a hallmark " of the collection. An original 1910 tall case clock sold at auction for over $71,000. [4]
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| Tall Case Clock in the Mission Collection of www.Stickley.com |
The Prairie style emerged in Chicago around 1900 from the work of a group of young architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright. These architects melded the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, with its emphasis on nature, craftsmanship and simplicity, and the work and writings of architect Louis Sullivan. They embraced Sullivan’s architectural theories, which called for non-derivative, distinctly American architecture rooted in nature, with a sense of place, but also incorporated modern elements, like flat planes and stylized ornamentation.
The Prairie style’s popularity faded rapidly in the United States after 1915, although its influence can be seen in everything from Modernist architecture to Mid-Century ranches. [5]The clock graced the Frasers' central hallway for three decades and was right at home in its 1915 house. A web search has yet to uncover an identical one. Mom and Dad did come across another in an antiques store on Vancouver Island, but its maker or origins are unknown.
A few long clocks at the Canadian Clock Museum look familiar and similar, but are not the same. I photographed it, noted its details and dimensions (75.75" h, 18.5" w, 13.5" d), and sent this post to the museum to see if their experts could identify it. Because it has no labels or markings, however, its origins remain a mystery, and their best guess is that it is American.
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| The back of the clock is rough and has no label. |
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| The clock works have no maker's marks. |
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| Detail of weight acorns and leaded glass door. |
Over 100 years ago in Piercebridge, North Yorkshire, England, there was a quaint country lodge known as the George Hotel. The George hotel was managed by two bachelor brothers named Jenkins also from England.
In the lobby stood a floor clock, as they were called back in those days, that had been there for many years. One unusual characteristic on the old clock was that it kept very good time. This was uncommon, since in those days clocks were generally not noted for their accuracy.
One day, one of the brothers died and suddenly the old clock started losing time. At first it lost 15 minutes per day but when several clocksmiths gave up trying to repair the ailing timepiece, it was losing more than an hour each day. The clock's incurable problem became as talked about as its precision had been. Some said it was no surprise that, though fully wound, the old clock stopped when the surviving brother died at the age of ninety.
The new manager of the hotel never attempted to have it repaired. He just left it standing in a sunlit corner of the lobby, its hands resting in the position they assumed the moment the last Jenkins brother died.
About 1875, an American songwriter named Henry Work happened to be staying at the George Hotel during a trip to England. He was told the story of the old clock and after seeing the clock for himself, decided to compose a song about the fascinating coincidence that the clock stopped forever the moment its elder owner passed away. Henry came back to America and published the lyrics that sold over a million copies of sheet music about the clock.
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Sources
[1] Arts and Crafts Movement:
https://www.horizon-custom-homes.com/Mission_Furniture.html
[2] Mission Style Furniture:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_style_furniture
[3] Craftsman Furniture:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craftsman_furniture
[4] Stickley Furniture tall case clock:
https://www.stickley.com/furniture/accessories/clocks/tall-case-clock
[5] Prairie Style:
http://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/architecture-dictionary/entry/prairie-style
[6] How the Grandfather Clock got its Name:
[7] My Grandfather's Clock, performed by Johnny Cash:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0o8A4RccUY
[8] Lyrics to My Grandfather's Clock:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Grandfather%27s_Clock
