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Skinner, Inc., Marlborough, Massachusetts

Icon of American Horology Sells for $539,500by Jeanne SchintoPhotos courtesy Skinner

The star lot at Skinner’s sci-ence, technology, andclocks sale in Marlbor-

ough, Massachusetts, onNovember 20, 2010, was anastronomical regulator made in1868 by Boston’s William Bond& Son. Offered with an estimateof $300,000/500,000, the clock,which measures 71" tall includ-ing its painted wood base, soldto a private collector on the

phone for $539,500 (includingbuyer’s premium).

Skinner department headRobert C. Cheney called theclock “a horological tour deforce” and “probably the mostimportant regulator made inAmerica.” That’s because it fig-ured into the history of theworld’s first public time service.Without standard time, Ameri-can railroad accidents were fre-quent, and American sailors haddifficulty determining their lon-gitude at sea, leading them intodisasters of their own. The Bondfirm, using this clock, dissemi-nated standard time via tele-graph across 19th-century NewEngland.

Accurate to .09 second,according to Cheney, the clockis a cultural icon too. Being inthe vanguard of a series of tech-nological developments, ithelped lead Americans into theera of heightened time con-sciousness, a mindset that rulesus at our peril to this day.

At a gallery walk the nightbefore the sale, Cheneyexplained how the clock figuredinto the standard-time deliverysystem. “They had at the Har-vard College Observatory a fif-teen-inch refractor telescopewith crosshairs. It was aimed at

the sky, and when a known plan-et transited it, they knew exactlywhat time it was. So at thatmoment they pressed the tele-graph key and sent the exacttime to the Bond shop in down-town Boston. From there, theywould send out standard time toNew England, again by tele-graph. So Bond’s was the firsteffort to get everybody on thesame time schedule. This was

the first answer.”The Bond firm was founded in

1793 by the first William Bond(1753-1848), who emigratedfrom Cornwall, England. Hisson, William Cranch Bond(1789-1859), and the next gen-eration, Richard and George,continued it. The firm remainedin the hands of the Bond familyuntil the 1930’s when ownershippassed to Armenian immigrantbrothers named Hekimian. Itclosed in 1977. The clock, ondisplay at the Smithsonian Insti-tution in Washington, D.C.,from 1982 to 2000, was con-signed to the sale by the descen-dants of its last owner, Suren H.Hekimian (1905-1977).

The winning bidder’s maincompetition came from collec-tor/dealer Jim Cipra of LongBeach, California, who was bid-ding in person for himself. “Thisis the most important and tech-nically elegant American-madeprecision clock that will ever besold in the United States,” hesaid. “I am in pursuit of the bestpossible horological objects. Inmy view, that’s the bestapproach a collector can have,but in this case the person whoacquired the clock wanted itmore than I.”

The sale as a whole was a

“This is the most important and tech-nically elegant American-made preci-sion clock that will ever be sold in theUnited States.”

The William Bond & Son astronomical regulator, made in 1868, sold toa private collector for $539,500 (est. $300,000/500,000). The clock has asingle-arm gravity escapement and a constant-force remontoire invent-ed by Richard F. Bond. Only two other clocks like it are known. Onewas made for Harvard University’s observatory, where WilliamCranch Bond was the first director. It is now in the Harvard Universi-ty Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. The other was madefor the Bidston Observatory in Liverpool, England and is now in theMerseyside County Museum. This third example was used in the Bondshop.

This is one half of a stereoview showing the storefront of WilliamBond & Son (occasionally seen written as William Bond & Sons)at 95-97 Water Street, Boston. Sara J. Schechner, the David J.Wheatland Curator of the Harvard University Collection of His-torical Scientific Instruments, which owns the Bond daybooksand business records, has checked various advertisements, docu-ments, and price lists and notes that the Bond shop was at vari-ous Boston locations on Congress Street, Water Street, StateStreet, and Boylston Street through the 19th century. Consider-ing her research, this photo dates to some time between 1876 and1897. Judging from the stereoview mount, it’s likely toward theearly end of that period. For more information, see the HarvardWeb site (www.fas.harvard.edu/~hsdept/chsi.html). Author’scollection.

The 56" x 61" painted wood shop sign ofWilliam Bond & Son sold for $1896 (est.$1500/2500) to Jim Cipra, underbidder onthe Bond astronomical regulator. Theunidentified previewer is looking at aYouTube video of the Bond clock at work(www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOc6hE0Ccvo). Schinto photo.

A patent timepiece by Simon Willard, 1805-10, sold on the Inter-net for $9187.50 (est. $15,000/25,000). Found in England, it camewith a repair ticket and inscriptions on components that trace theclock to a “Mr. Jones of 4065 Baltimore Avenue, Philadelphia,circa 1870.” Known colloquially as a banjo clock, the patent time-piece dates at its earliest to 1802. Pristine examples can run$100,000, but those examples are rare. Cheney’s “Ninety-Five Per-cent Rule” states that all but 5% of these clocks have problemsthat keep their prices well down. It means that “you can get amajor-looking clock with minor problems for very reasonablemoney.” This one proves the rule. “At some point, its gilding hadbeen enhanced with bronzing paint, and there had been some sta-bilization to the glasses,” said Cheney, “but it’s still a pretty darngood clock.” Schinto photo.

marked success, making it three ina row for Cheney, who took overthe department in January 2009.On 695 items offered, 660 (95%)of which sold, the gross was$1,784,165. That’s not countingpost-sale deals, which addedanother approximately $150,000 to

- AUCTION -that total, Cheney said.

Cheney came into this world the sonand grandson of clockmakers; the 58-year-old was a clockmaker and dealer fordecades. At Skinner he has learned tonavigate a number of other specialties.“It’s a very eclectic department,” he toldhis gallery-walk audience. “Through theyears it’s been kind of catch-all for itemsthat other departments either didn’t wantto handle or that didn’t fit into their reper-toires.” Mechanical music and medievalarmor are two of his non-horologicalresponsibilities, but so are such things asa coin-operated fortune teller, a gas-pow-ered bicycle searchlight, and the articulat-ed skeleton of a chicken.

“Certainly we capture all sorts of col-lecting personae,” he said. “But what’smost interesting about this department isthe kind of international attention thatsome of these categories generate. WhenSkinner puts a sale like this on line, weare in essence selling to the world.”

Some other sale highlights were con-signed by the Higgins Armory Museum(www.higgins.org) in Worcester, Massa-chusetts. The museum’s founder, Worces-ter industrialist John Woodman Higgins(1874-1961), spent a lifetime building aprivate collection of arms and armor frommedieval and Renaissance Europe, feudalJapan, and ancient Greece and Rome. In1929 Higgins, whose money came fromthe manufacture of pressed steel, con-structed a four-story steel and glass ArtDeco building in Worcester to house it.“He used to waltz around town givingaway candy to children in the street whilewearing his armor,” his granddaughter,Hannah Higgins, told a reporter forWomen’s Wear Daily in 2009.

The museum evolved over the decadesinto a showcase for pressed steel productsof various lands and times, includingmodern ones. Upon Higgins’s death, thebuilding, collections, and an endowmentwere given to the public. The museumhas been redefining its mission lately anddeaccessioning duplicates and other

material. At this sale the castoffs includedbreastplates, back plates, swords, hal-berds, spears, and helmets, a couple ofwhich were sale highlights.

One helmet, cataloged as a late 15th-century-style German-type jousting hel-met, sold to a phone bidder for $8888(est. $200/300). Another, described assimply “a medieval-style helmet,” made$13,035 on the same penny-ante estimate.More typically they fetched prices rang-ing from $2015 to $4740. A steel-engraved French-style half armor andhelmet, cataloged as “likely Continental,19th century,” was the top lot of that sec-tion of the sale, selling on the phone for$29,625 (est. $500/700).

A strong offering of early American mil-itaria came from the collection of C. KeithWilbur, who died in 2009 at age 86. Wilburwas a Northampton, Massachusetts, physi-cian, and one of his special loves was theAmerican Revolutionary War. (Skinnerpreviously sold his antique medical collec-tion.) “He was an amazing gentleman, andit was my pleasure to have met him,” saidCheney. “Doctor Wilbur was just a localGP. He had his office in his home. If youwere obese, he’d hand you a cannonballand say, ‘That’s how overweight you are.Now you set that cannonball down. Don’tyou feel better? Well, you need to lose thir-ty pounds because that’s what you’re car-rying around.’”

A graduated set of four 18th- and 19th-century cannonballs from the Wilbur col-lection was indeed part of the sale andsold for $1126 (est. $200/400). Anotherset of five, undated, brought $415 on thesame estimate. The bulk of the collectionconsisted of pistols, muskets, rifles, bay-onets, scabbards, powder horns,revolvers, sabers, swords, tomahawks,painted military drums, epaulets, gorgets,buttons, canteens, and cannons to go withthose Weight Watchers’ cannonballs. Thetop lot of that group by far was a 1780-83French hanger sword, possibly used inthe American Revolutionary War. It soldfor $94,800 to a room bidder who did not

want to be identified.Wilbur collected related ephemera too.

Among those lots was a discharge docu-ment signed for Captain John Perry of the8th Massachusetts Regiment by GeorgeWashington in 1783. Along with sixpieces of early Massachusetts currency,the single 12½" x 7" (sight size) sheetwent at $8295 (est. $6000/8000).

“Every school group in Northamptonhad a turn through Doctor Wilbur’s base-ment,” Cheney said. “There was nostronger advocate for American Revolu-tionary history in western Massachusetts.He was passionate, and that’s what col-lecting is all about.”

The clocks went up toward the end ofthe sale. They attracted numerous lumi-naries of the local horology world, amongthem Tom McIntyre of Harvard, Massa-chusetts; Bob Frascatore of Upton, Mass-achusetts; and John C. Losch of Hollis-ton, Massachusetts. Some came from fur-ther away. Besides Jim Cipra, theyincluded Tom Grimshaw of Cheshire,Connecticut; Joe Arvay of Mendham,New Jersey, and Sconset on Nantucket;and Charles Grichar of Houston, Texas.

Clock prices before and after the Bondwere generally strong—a departure fromthe last couple of years. The marketabsorbed 11 tall clocks in successionwithout a hiccup, at prices ranging from$1126 to $24,500. The low of that groupwas for an “as-found” circa 1750japanned-cased example, possibly Amer-ican (est. $200/300). The high was theprice an Internet bidder paid for an 1800-10 Simon Willard in a refinishedmahogany Roxbury case (est. $20,000/30,000).

A few dozen lots later came more tallclocks. A circa 1795 mahogany exampleby William Cummens—a Simon Willardprotegé, who set up his own shop inWillard’s Roxbury, Massachusetts, neigh-borhood—sold to a phone bidder for$21,330 (est. $20,000/25,000). Going tothe same bidder for the same price was acirca 1810 tall clock by James Doull of

Charlestown, Massachusetts (est.$20,000/30,000).

Very active throughout the clock portionof the auction, bidder 999 spent $65,175(just over the high estimate) for the top tallclock of the day. A circa 1725 Queen Annewalnut example by William Claggett ofNewport, Rhode Island, it had previouslybeen sold by Skinner in 1992 for$25,300—to Cheney in his dealer days. Itwent from Cheney to a Connecticut collec-tion, and that owner consigned it to thissale.

“The market sees a lot of Claggett clocksbut doesn’t see many real Claggett clocks,and this is a real one—that’s the impor-tance there,” said Cheney, who identifiedits new owner, bidder 999, as a dealer.

Bidders passed up a circa 1790 AaronWillard tall clock (est. $40,000/60,000).It wasn’t Aaron’s day. They didn’t wanthis circa 1825 alarm shelf clock either(est. $25,000/30,000). At least, theydidn’t want them at those suggested mar-ket levels. The tall clock sold later for$30,000, and the sale of the alarm clockwas pending, Cheney said on Thanksgiv-ing Monday.

Among other major lots aggressivelyestimated and declined at the auctionwere a circa 1815 pair of 20" libraryglobes in Hepplewhite stands by J. & W.Cary of London (est. $80,000/100,000)and a Civil War campaign chest filledwith the artifacts of 2nd Lt. John DavisEdgell (est. $30,000/40,000). Later theglobes sold for $77,025. As for the chest,Cheney said, “We are talking to interest-ed people about it, and I remain opti-mistic, because I consider it just such awonderful thing.”

A room bidder did buy Edgell’s cartesde visite album containing 30 images ofhis fellow soldiers and officers, all butfive identified with handwritten inscrip-tions. Estimated at $700/900, the photosbrought $3851.

For more information, contact Skinnerat (617) 350-5400 or (508) 970-3000, orsee the Web site (www.skinnerinc.com).

At his gallery walk on the night before the sale, RobertCheney pointed out John C. Losch (seated right) of Hollis-ton, Massachusetts, as a clockmaker who used to maintainclocks as complicated as the Bond, including ones at Har-vard. Pictured with him are collector David Newsom (seat-ed left) and watchmaker Moritz Elsaesser (in vest). Schintophoto.

Robert Cheney (left) and collector-dealer George Collord of Portland, Maine,at the preview. Collord bought the late 19th-century William Bond & Sonchronometer for $2607 (est. $2500/4500). Its rosewood brassbound box had amother-of-pearl plaque marked “Wm. Bond & Son/ Boston.” Its padded trans-port box in walnut was the original. The first seagoing chronometer made in theUnited States is believed to have come from the Bond workshop, constructed by23-year-old William Cranch Bond during the War of 1812.

Robert Cheney, showing the eight-day time-and-strikeskeletonized plate movement of a 26" tall circa 1820mahogany four-column shelf clock by Heman Clark ofPlymouth, Connecticut. The clock sold to an Internetbuyer for $23,275 (est. $20,000/30,000). Schinto photo.

A first model “Brown Bess” flintlock rifle and bayonet with scabbard, cataloged ashaving been made in Galton, England during the first half of the 18th century, soldfor $15,405 (est. $4000/6000). According to a modern string tag attached to this rifle,it was carried by a Private Parker of Buckland, Massachusetts, during the AmericanRevolution. From the collection of C. Keith Wilbur.

A 73" tall Zoltan coin-operatedfortune teller, made of fiberglassin the early 1970’s by ProphetronInc. of Milton, Massachusetts,went to an Internet buyer at$3675 (est. $3000/5000). SkinnerCEO Karen Keane got a biglaugh from the audience whenshe said, “We were thinking ofkeeping this for our appraisaldepartment.” Zoltan remindedsome previewers of the 1988 TomHanks movie Big, in which a for-tune-telling machine namedZoltar turns the adolescent pro-tagonist into a grown-up. Formore information about Zoltanvs. the fictional Zoltar, see infor-mation posted on the Internet byClay Harrell of Detroit, Michigan(http://marvin3m.com/arcade/zoltan.htm).

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Cataloged as “medieval-style,”this steel helmet with pivotingvisor from the Higgins ArmoryMuseum sold on the phone for$13,035 (est. $200/300). It was thehighest-priced helmet in the sale.

From a source other than theHiggins Armory Museum camethis full-head copper helmet inthe form of a lion with piercedholes for the eyes and a repoussémane. A bidder in the room tookit at $11,850 (est. $700/900). Itwas undated in the catalog.

The Higgins Armory Museum’ssteel engraved French-style halfarmor and helmet, cataloged as“likely Continental, 19th centu-ry,” sold for $29,625 (est. $500/700) to the same phone bidderwho took the highest-priced hel-met in the sale. Schinto photo.

A collection of sundials did wellat the sale, with this one being themost noteworthy. A circa 1700 sil-ver pocket sundial by Butterfieldof Paris in a 2¾" x 3" felt-linedleather case, it sold to a phonebidder for $4740 (est. $2500/3500).

A 19th-century cast metal den-tal articulator sold on the phonefor $5629 (est. $2500/3500). Ithas a hinged jaw with cast brassteeth and gums.

A circa 1885 coin-operated cast-iron Picture Gallery Bank byShepard Hardware of Buffalo,New York, 8½" tall, sold to anInternet buyer for $5206.25 (est.$4000/6000).

A circa 1725 Queen Anne walnuttall clock by William Claggett(1695-1749) of Newport, RhodeIsland, with eight-day time-and-strike five-pillar movement, soldfor $65,175 (est. $60,000/80,000)to phone bidder 999.

A circa 1795 mahogany tallclock by William Cummens ofRoxbury, Massachusetts, sold tophone bidder 999 for $21,330(est. $20,000/25,000). Notshown, a circa 1810 tall clock byJames Doull of Charlestown,Massachusetts, with eight-daytime-and-strike movement, soldto the same phone bidder for thesame price (est. $20,000/30,000).

An 1833-39 mahogany Empireshelf clock by Silas B. Terry ofPlymouth, Connecticut, witheight-day brass movement andskeletonized front plate, sold tophone bidder 999 for $11,258 (est.$5000/8000).

A circa 1795 tall clock by EliTerry of Plymouth, Connecticut,with eight-day time-and-strikemovement, sold to phone bidder999 for $26,070 (est. $15,000/20,000). The cherry case is attrib-uted to either Eliphalet Chapin orSimeon Loomis of East Windsor,Connecticut.

A circa 1795 maple tall clock byJesse Emory of Weare, NewHampshire, with a 30-hour wood-en movement, sold to phone bid-der 999 for $23,700 (est. $10,000/15,000).

A 25½" long 1780-83 French hanger sword from the Wilbur estate soldfor $94,800 (est. $600/800). With touchmark “MR” and brass hilt withentwined USA on the guard, it is likely an example of the short swordintroduced to the American Revolutionary Army Corps of LightInfantry by Marquis de Lafayette. “I am told several of these have beenexcavated at known Revolutionary War sites,” said Cheney. For moreinformation, see Battle Weapons of the American Revolution by GeorgeC. Neumann (1998).

A28" tall Federal mirrorclock by Joshua Wilder of

Hingham, Massachusetts, witheight-day time-and-passing-strike (i.e., just one bong on thehour), sold in the room for$35,550 (est. $25,000/35,000)to collector Joe Arvay. Theunderbidder on the phone wasdealer Gary R. Sullivan ofSharon, Massachusetts.

While researching the award-winning Harbor & Home: Fur-niture of Southeastern Massa-chusetts, 1710-1850, withBrock Jobe and Jack O’Brien,Sullivan located a total of fivemirror clocks made by Wilder,including the present one, whichsold at Skinner on June 8, 1997,for $25,300. Robert Cheneyrecalls that he tried to buy it atthat sale but was unsuccess-ful. A couple of years later,Cheney said he bought it atChristie’s for roughly thesame price. It went on fromthere to be owned by others.

Considering that history,this clock is not what any-one would call fresh, yet itsold well yet again. “It’ssuch an outstanding exam-ple, both by way of condi-tion and in terms of itsunusual form,” said Cheney.

Sullivan intended to have anentry on Wilder’s mirror clocksin Harbor & Home, but spacewould not allow it. He kindlyshared his research for thisreport.

“All of the Wilder mirrorclocks I have examined areunique in that their cases havetombstone-shaped side win-dows,” Sullivan wrote in an e-mail. “I believe the one that justsold at Skinner is historicallysignificant because it is the ear-liest mirror clock—made byanyone—that I have ever seen.The style of the mirror itselfwould date the clock to circa1810 or a little earlier. All othermirror clocks I am aware ofwould post-date this one by anumber of years.”

Sullivan continued, “EveryNew Hampshire example, aswell as all the Connecticut-made Joseph Ives mirror clocks,are later. These observations ledme to believe that Wilder likelydeveloped the mirror clock. Itmakes sense, given that Wilderwas struggling to produce lesscostly clocks to compete withthe more affordable banjoclocks, being manufactured inBoston, which were less expen-sive than his tall-case clocks,but which he did not have theright to produce. That business

Joshua Wilder Mirror Clock: An Outtake from Harbor & Home

situation led him to begin mak-ing dwarf clocks. The rest is his-tory.”

Joe Arvay added points fromhis own research.

“In 1822, Connecticut clock-maker Joseph Ives received apatent for his looking-glassclock; the document, signed byJames Monroe and John QuincyAdams, is in the collection ofthe American Clock and WatchMuseum, Bristol, Connecticut.Ives’s patent application letter,dated 1817, is in my collection.Given those dates and Sullivan’sresearch, this Wilder clock islikely the first mirror clock everproduced and is significantlyearlier than Ives’s. Not onlyunique, the Wilder clock is inuntouched condition. Itsdiminutive size completes thepackage.”

Sullivan commented on thatsize.

“It is at the smallest extremeof what you typically find inNew Hampshire mirror clocks,which are often a few inchestaller. The Connecticut mirrorclocks are much larger, general-ly by ten to fifteen inches.”

New Hampshire mirror clocksalso generally incorporate splitbaluster mirrors, a later stylethan the gilt rope front design ofthis clock, Sullivan said.

–J.S.