Welcome to the February newsflow for clocks, in particular tavern clocks. Given the daily deluge of bad financial news how can anyone say that clocks are hot. Stay with me there is substance to this. We left January and before that December with some mixed signals. A great Vulliamy price, a good Knibb and an ok Tompion. Reports on the January NEC 6th National Fine Art & Antiques Fair were not out at the time of writing the last blog. Well, much to the surprise of exhibitors it was better than feared and good for those selling traditional furniture. Auction reports also confirm that furniture is selling again.
What's going on?? Well on the 10th February Drewatts held a near 200 lot sale of clocks, barometers & scientific instruments. The sale included the dispersal of tools and books of respected clockmaker John Hooper who passed away in 2007. Many of his tools were original 18th and 19th century devices which were still in regular use. This aspect of the sale attracted many horologists on the day. The weather in the lead up to the sale had paralysed much of Britain but on the day the saleroom was packed as the weather was a little kinder. The other major part of the sale was the disposal of the Alfred Loader Collection which included a Tompion longcase as the star attraction with an estimate of £30-40000.
In a full room with bidders in the corridor, on the phones and annoyingly on the internet, business was buoyant. Whilst none of us would give up the internet it is nothing short of a damn nuisance in the saleroom as there is a constant lag from the live internet bidders. At times this caused confusion and even uproar. I digress.
The sale was a great success with over 90% of lots sold and more critically numerous lots sold for well over the top estimate, often multiples of the upper end. Only the run of the mill 19th century longcases remain in the doldrums. Anything interesting or of quality did well. The Tompion, numbered 253, a marriage in a well matched "mulberry"case, was knocked down at £46000, hammer. A respectable price but not great; that would have required more untouched originality. However if all were correct then the price would have been significantly greater.
Tavernicus braved the dreadful weather to attend this sale as it included a round dial tavern clock. A reasonably correct example with roman and arabic numerals on a yellowing ground with a dot minute ring. The hands a little doubtful both counterbalanced. Nicely cut classic ears. Sadly this clock has lost all the detail on the trunk including the signature. The door chinoiserie is all visible. In distressed condition the clock was knocked down for £5500, hammer, against an estimate of £2-3000. A good result. With a signature the hammer would have been greater by a margin.
Later in the month Gardiner Houlgate conducted their regular sale of watches and clocks with accompanying clock jumble. Always of interest, this sale was less jumble and more finished article. The star lot for me was a very humble 30 hour longcase, very early, in a small case no more than 78inches tall. Bristol maker. Painted brown and absolutely untouched and in original condition. Knocked down at the top estimate of £8000 these rare examples of English domestic history are now few and far between. Hopefully its new owner will not improve it. With such a clock the danger is that it will be "improved worse". I am indebted to my good friend AG for that phrase. Just into March another tavern clock appeared up north but that will be reported on my my next blog.
So, just into 2009 there are definite signs that those with money, and yes there are still many, are fed up with interest rates at near zero and the substantial risk that paper asset classes remain problematic. The consequence of these feelings is that traditional assets begin to look like a safe harbour. More next time.
