Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Save the Date!

Hello Duckloe Brothers Blog followers!

Just wanted to let you know that there will be a Oriental rug seminar, clock seminar, and a lunch with Horologist Gregg Parry at Duckloe Bros on February 25th! Mark your calendars and we hope to see you there!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Horologist Gregg Perry Conserves Tall Case Clock Which is a Sister to One in the White House

Perry is conserving an Effington Embree musical tall case clock. The mechanism plays six tunes, included are a song, 2 marches, a jigg, a dance and a minuet. It also features a sweep calendar. The high style tall case is an exceedingly rare example produced in New York City. Only a few clock makers ever produced any tall case clocks in New York City and very few have survived. The hood features a molded pagoda top inlaid with a spreading eagle and a mariners star. This motif is common to Embree’s tall clocks. The silvered brass dial is experctly engraved with the recesses filled with wax. The clock is signed in block letters with the maker and locale “Efftingtom Embree/New York”. This high style case has fine geometric and fan inlays with richly grained mahogany panels. Also, found on Embree tall cases is a distinctive cut-out bracket foot that the case rests on.
Embree was born in 1759 and was in business on his own in New York from 1789 to 1795.
This clock with its sophisticated musical movement is only 1 of 2 to Embree’s credit. Its sister resides in the diplomatic reception room of the White House with similar case and an identical mechanism. These are Embree’s 2 greatest tall case contributions. His other  remaining limited productions embodies almost all identical cases but with basic time and strike mechanisms with white painted dials.
Perry’s restoration/conservation will be complete in early spring 2012.    


The Effington Embree's sister clock, as seen in The White House (look behind Michelle's left shoulder)


The Effington Embree before restoration.