$8,000
John Wood Sr. Walnut Eight-day Tall Clock, Stretch's Corner Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, c. 1720, the sarcophagus top with three ball finials resting on a flat molded top cornice over the glazed hood door with engaged columns, composite brass dial signed on the maker's boss John Wood/Philadelphia , Roman numeral chapter ring with half and quarter-hour markings, seconds bit, recessed date dial, ringed winding holes and cast brass spandrels, replacement hands, figured walnut rectangular waist door over the raised plinth and molded flat base, eight-day time and hour strike movement with founder's mark "A" engraved on back plate, four ring-decorated pillars, recoil escapement, top mounted bell, and count wheel strike component attached to the great wheel all regulated by a period pendulum, two period lead weights and original winding key, ht. 94 in. Note: American domestic clocks from the first half of the 18th century are extremely rare. In the bustling colonial center of Philadelphia, John Wood Sr. was among the earliest of a small group, which included Peter Stretch. Stretch's clocks and work are comprehensively detailed in Donald L. Fennimore and Frank L. Hohmann, III, Stretch, America's First Family of Clockmakers . This study documents nearly identical work with Stretch's square dial examples to that of John Wood Sr., all showing the similar hand in the ring-decorated pillars, escapements and count wheel strike system; Fennimore and Hohmann, pp. 132-163.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2016-04-29
