Antique Clocks: Calendar Clocks

Video Transcript

"Now let's talk about calendar clocks. We looked at a few clocks earlier on that had a calendar indicator, but in this case we're talking about true calendar clocks that have a secondary, an additional second large dial which shows date information. Often the... the day of the month, sometimes even more information, the year, the day of the...the day of the week, the month, that kind of thing. And in our next clip, we'll talk about the Ithaca Calendar Clock Company, which is the most famous one, but I thought I'd show you these to begin with. These are...were made...are the National Calendar Clock Company, which was a company where the clocks were actually made by the New Haven Clock Company that we talked about. I have two of them here, because, just by coincidence I ended up with two in the shop at the same time. But this also gives us a little sneak preview of our talk about condition, because in this case, we have, basically, the identical clock, but in once case we have the original grain painting, and we have dials in slightly better condition. We have the gilding, which is still in tact here, as opposed to repainted gold here, and a stripped, basically, and refinished Mahogany case. If you just we're looking at this one, without this one, you'd think, "Oh, great calendar clock." But if, then if you compare it to it's original- condition cousin, you see why there can be a large difference in price. And, if fact, recently, because I know of what these clocks were valued at, this clock was worth three times more than it's cousin, which has suffered some indignities of refinishing and repainting. But, just keep...even so, these large double dial calendar clocks, very collectible, very interesting to have, and sometimes pretty complicated to make work correctly, too."