Moses Stiles Grain-painted Elm Tall Clock No. 88

Moses Stiles Grain-painted Elm Tall Clock No. 88, Rahway, New Jersey, c. 1820, exaggerated swan's neck hood with cast brass concentric rosettes, fluted freestanding columns flanking the white-painted dial with anchors in the spandrels, and a ship- and flower-decorated arch, signed Moses Stiles No. 88 , seconds bit, calendar aperture and pierced iron hands, serpentine-top waist door with beaded edge, fluted quarter-columns, all resting on high flared French feet, case entirely grained-painted to mimic mahogany, and constructed out of elmwood, eight-day time and hour-strike movement, ht. 85 in. Note: According to S. and T. Spittler and C. Bailey's book Clockmakers and Watchmakers of America by Name and Place , Moses Stiles was born in Morristown, New Jersey, in 1771, and died in 1854.