Historic 1880’s Ansonia Drop Extra Calendar Clock, Restored & Running for Sale

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Historic 1880’s Ansonia Drop Extra Calendar Clock, Restored & Running For Sale

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Historic 1880’s Ansonia Drop Extra Calendar Clock, Restored & Running:
$1500.00

In 1868, William Terry, while working for the Ansonia Brass & Copper company, patented a calendar clock movement that indicated the day of the month and displayed the current month. The text on the clock’s dial shows how Ansonia honored his inventive achievement.

His original calendar movement, which evolved over the years, can be identified by the gap between the 31 and the 1 at the top of the clock’s dial (a later change in the movement’s design eliminated the gap). In this original version though, produced from the early 1870’s to the mid 1880’s or so, the gap was included to coax the owner into the habit of manually moving the solid brass day-of-the-month hand one, two, or three notches, as the change in month required. Making this adjustment simultaneously advanced the month shown in the dial’s window.

As befitting Ansonia’s first foray into calendar clocks,they created something special to accompany the new movement: a large dial, drop-style wall clock, heavily adorned with rich Brazilian rosewood (now a protected, endangered species). The clock’s design included a lower compartment housing a peek-a-boo, reverse-painted window in a lower door that opens downward to reveal a cabinet for retaining the clock’s key and displaying the clock\'s label and instructions. The case’s design also incorporates what may be a tongue-in-cheek feature: two solid wooden finials that, instead of the normal upward-pointing orientation almost invariably used in clock case design, point downward on either side of the lower compartment.

There is evidence that this clock has been well cared for during at least part of its roughly one-hundred-and-forty-year life: six labels from the A. E. Huebsch clock repair shop in Minneapolis are pasted in the lower cabinet. These are the dates and succinct descriptions of work done:

1/6/1900 – clean

3/23/1904 – clean

5/25/1905 – time spring replaced

4/26/1908 – clean

3/21/1911 – strike spring replaced

11/7/1917 - clean

Fast forward to the present day and that level of care has resumed: the case’s rosewood veneer has been restored to its original beauty and luster, the clock’s brass appurtenances polished and lacquered, the movement painstakingly overhauled, and the clock’s label (and maintenance stickers) have been de-acidified and then sprayed with a fixative so they will last another hundred and some years or more.

The rosewood’s careful restoration concluded with five coats of clear, protective lacquer, hand-polished to a mirror finish, as the pictures show. Restoration of the clock’s dial utilized the service of an artist to hand paint portions of the dial to match its original appearance. The dial’s glass has been replaced, as the previous glass (also not original) was broken.

After the movement’s overhaul, the clock runs with Ansonia’s usual generous margin: described as an eight-day clock, it easily runs for nine or ten days. It chimes the hour on a wire spiral and an industry-standard synchronizing wire is provided to enable the owner to synchronize the hour strike with the position of the clock’s hands.

An operation and maintenance manual (Word document) is included with the clock. It contains far more information on the clock than Ansonia originally provided in the label. Even if you have no experience with clocks like the Terry\'s Patent Drop Extra, this manual will tell you all you need to know. And, of course, the original label makes for fascinating reading itself.

This clock has been hanging in our house since its top-to-bottom restoration a few months ago and it invariably draws the attention and admiration of guests who marvel at the rosewood’s beauty and the wonder of seeing a clock that the Smithsonian would happily display as a historic bit of Americana.

As a side benefit, it keeps good time too 😊.