MAY 2011: SERENDIPITY AND NOSTALGIA

The market for clocks seems to have gone to sleep with very little new or of interest emerging. Certainly, only two tavern clocks have appeared at auction this year. It was therefore serendipitous that I came across the opportunity to sharpen up my research as 16 copies of Millers Antiques Price Guide from 1982-2000 fell into my hands at £1/copy. The Guide has been published since 1979. The years '82-2000 witnessed the 1982-83 and the 1990-93 recessions as well as the stock market crash of 1987.
In some years (but not all), the clock section of the Guide contains a specific commentary on the clock market. In the '84 Guide the following was reported "Where, during 1982, many dealers were reporting falling sales and such depressed prices that some were forced into closure there has been a dramatic turnaround.......buyers...are happily paying from 10 upto 40% more than a year ago". Interestingly, doctors and solicitors were apparently ready buyers of inlaid balloon clocks, though how anyone should know this is a curiosity! By the '85 edition, it was reported that "...antiques market clocks have seen an appreciable escalation in prices. This was particularly noticeable with longcase clocks which suffered from a very flat period for several years". Late 17thC marquetry clocks had by now reached £6000, oh those were the days, and, as ever, quality clocks were pulling away from the ordinary. In the '87 Guide it was reported that "In general terms the clock market is extremely buoyant ...". So much for the stock market crash which wiped out 26.5% of the market value in one month. However, I suspect the Guide runs a year in arrears as it must report on the prior year. There is then a gap in the Guide for annual reports until 1994 when a 4-page review appeared; "Thankfully, the clock market has survived this particular "annus horriblis" (and the two preceding) in remarkably good health." Her Majesty the Queen used this phrase in her address at the Guildhall in November 1992. By 2000 all seemed to be well as Derek Roberts, the author of that year's review, reported that ".. the mahogany longcase with painted dial, particularly with moonphase, has probably increased eight-fold in value in the last 21 years". The 2000 edition was the 21st.

I shall await the next serendipitous moment when the years 2001-2011 fall into my hands at £1/copy but I can report that the ebbs and flows of the value of clocks in that 21 year period have continued into the noughties and beyond with a new facet, that is fashion. The latter has taken centre stage as large clocks have suffered immensely in the IKEA minimalism that is pervasive.

This ramble down memory lane has been of great moment to the TAVERNICUS ARCHIVE as about another dozen previously unrecorded tavern clocks have surfaced in the 16 editions. I also understand rather better that when prices soften as they have then the best clocks go to sleep until the market recovers. If you know when that will be then you are a better man than I am Gunga Din! (Courtesy Rudyard Kipling).