Skinner, Inc.’s spring auction of Clocks, Watches & Scientific Instruments will offer a broad range of outstanding and affordable technical collectibles for both the beginning and advanced collector.
For the lover of technical horology, the Louis E. Meyer “Grand Complication” Skeleton Clock (Lot 138, estimated between $20,000 and $40,000) features a three-train movement powering seven dials which, in addition to telling the time, record equation of time, perpetual calendar, date of leap year, and lunar calculations, all while striking the quarters and hour with automata hitting bells with their hammers.
Highlights from a private collection of fine American clocks include rarities such as a George Marsh Hollow Column Clock (Lot 133, $4,000-$6,000), circa 1840; lyre wall clocks; a Reuben Tower Patent Timepiece with Alarm (Lot 125, $2,500-$4,500); and a Cherry Tall Clock by David Wood of Newburyport, Massachusetts (Lot 115, $7,000-$9,000) – a rare example of a small eight-day tall clock, by an important maker, in near pristine condition. Among other important American Federal-era tall clocks in the sale are examples by Simon Willard of Roxbury, Massachusetts (Lot 107, $18,000-$28,000) and Levi and Abel Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire (Lot 116, $10,000-$15,000), as well as a Tall Clock with Rocking Ship Automaton by James Doull of Charlestown, Massachusetts, with the case attributed to Thomas Seymour (Lot 104, $8,000-$12,000).
Other clocks in the sale include a private Midwestern collection of Austrian year-duration floor and wall clocks, for those collectors who want to wind a clock only once a year. American and European watches range from groupings of dozens of watches per lot, ideal for the beginning repairer, to minute-repeating Swiss watches for the more advanced collector, all with estimates ranging from $200 to $5,000.
Featured within a variety of scientific instruments offered are a Geared Tellurian Attributed to W. Jones (Lot 295, $1,500-$2,500) and 18th-century surveying compasses by Jacob Quincy of New York (Lot 303, $200-$250 ) and John Helig of Germantown, Pennsylvania (Lot 304, $6,000-$8,000). Along with an attractive selection of cylinder music boxes, this portion of the sale also features several rarities of mechanical music: a Coin-operated Mills Novelty Violano Virtuoso (Lot 280, $15,000-$25,000); a Coin-operated Polyphone 19 1/2-inch Disc Musical Box (Lot 283, $3,000-$5,000); and a Wurlitzer Model 1015 “Bubbler” Jukebox from the 1940s (Lot 292, $2,000-$4,000).
The auction will be held on Friday, April 29 at 10 a.m. in Skinner’s Marlborough gallery located at 274 Cedar Hill Street.