GRANDFATHER'S DIAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4866, 17 August 1925, Page 3

GRANDFATHER'S DIAL.

CLOCKS AND THEIR AGE. DETAILS THAT BETRAY. Of all the household gods which are handed down from generation none is more greatly prized than a genuine grandfather, or grandmother, clock. Apart from their (sentimental association, old English case clocks, with their engraved or enamelled dials of brass or wood, possess a simple yet impressive beauty that makes them much sought after by the collector. or connoiseur to-day. The oldest cases are most frequently made of mahogany or oak, often beautifully inlaid and carved. Modern makers favour oak, which looks well with a dull polish, and is preferred by many people to the shiny mahogany. Sometimes the age of a "grandfather may be found by examining the corner ornaments, or spandrels, as they are called. Of these, the earliest clocks of this kind was a single cherub’s head with outstretched wings and dateis back to 1670. Latter models, abont 1705, have two angels supporting a crown. The face of a grandfather clock very often betrays its age. The earliest clocks of this kind, those of 1665, had brass dials with the hours engraved on a separate silver ring. The first "grandfathers" had an hour hand only,.and the silvered hour ring was divided into quarters. At the half-hour the dividing line wap carried up between the numerals and ended in seme form c.f floral decoration, generally a fleur-de-lis. Any clock without these divisions may be identified as being after the year 1760, for they were continued long after the advent of the minute hand. This came in 1760, and with it the second circle on the enter edge of the hour ring and on which the .minute spaces were marked. However, onehand clocks continued to be made throughout the eighteenth century, and therefore are not always older than those with two hands, Clocks with enamelled dials belong to the period about the end of the eighteenth century, and those with iron or wooden "faces” a little later. But the connoisseur looks for more minute details before deciding on the age of a clock. Various. decorations on the dial are helpful. The second’s dial placed above the hour circle at the figure XII., and the day of the month aperture show a clock to have been made about 1680.

Clocks of the Queen Anne period have a herring-bone, a leaf or a ribbon border along the edges of the dial. They also have rings round the winding holes, and the • day of the month has some engraving around it. Clock-making was at its best in England between the yeiirfe 1680 and 1765, and the most sought after today arc those made in Loudon. Grandmother clocks are smaller, but none the less .beautiful than “grandfathers.” They arc generally shorter and narrower in the waist. Genuine examples are'very difficult to obtain.—T.P.’s and Cassell’s Weekly.