How to Find the Value of an Antique Gilt Bronze Clock

Bronze gilt objects were important accessories in 17th-19th-century French interiors.

Bronze gilt has a centuries-old reputation for beauty and function. Bronze-gilt objects initially were made by bronze makers who created molds from three-dimensional models made from wood,clay or wax, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The bronze makers filled the molds with molten bronze. The makers then smoothed away imperfections before gilding the objects by dipping them repeatedly in mercury and gold. Bronze-gilt clocks were produced in France as well as Germany Sweden, Britain, Italy and the U.S., so valuation can be difficult. Rely on the opinion of a professional to determine the value of your antique gilt bronze clock, or research the value yourself.

Instructions

1. Hire an appraiser if you need the most accurate estimate of value possible. Consider an appraisal if the reason you need to know the value is because you're going to sell or insure the clock.

2. Search completed auctions for clocks similar to yours on Internet auction sites. Sold prices are much better indicators of value than active-listing prices, but even they vary by region, the types of cases and movements, the quality of the clocks' components and other factors.

3. Examine your clock for identifying marks and symbols, like trademark and trade name, patent number, maker's name and the serial number. Your clock may not have all of these, but each one it does have offers a clue about when it was made, where it was made and by whom. This information is vital to determining the value.

4. Research your clock's identifying marks by comparing them to marks found in one of the many reference books that list the value of antique clocks. Use your clock's style as an additional clue as to its age and nation of origin.

5. Consult an online database of clockmakers' names and dates. Such databases are compiled from reference books, product catalogs and public and private collections of clocks. (See Resources)

Tips & Warnings

• Some clocks have cases and works produced by different manufacturers. Thus, information you glean from trademarks, trade names and other identifying information may pertain to the case or the works but not necessarily both.

• Patents divulge nation of origin if you can translate them. German patents have the notion D.R. or D.R.P., Ges. or Gesch or Fabrikmarke. French patents have "brevet" or "brevete." Italian patents have "brevetti." Swiss patents have a cross, resembling a plus sign, after the word "patent."

References

• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: Antique Clock Appraisals
• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: Identifying Antique Clocks Trademarks and Trade Names
• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: Using Patent Marks to Identify Country of Origin
• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: How Old is It?
• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: Dating Antique Clocks by the Makers' Names
• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: Dating Antique Clocks Using Serial Numbers

Resources

• Savage & Polite's Antique Clocks Identification & Price Guide: Dating Antique Clocks Using Patents
• American Society of Appraisers
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Art, Form, and FUcntion of Gilt Bronze in the French Interior
• The Clock Attic: Determining Antique Clock Value