An Interesting English Longcase

One of the things that really interests us (besides beautiful new clock designs) are really old clocks.

This is a piece that was saved from an old estate in the suburbs of Washington D.C. We found parts of the clock laying around the house and in the front yard, and we are going to take some time to clean it and restore it to working order.

Here are some hasty snapshots:

As you can see, it has a very elegant shallow case with a long door in the front. This style is typical of Tall Case or Long Case clocks of England and America in the 18th and early 19th Centuries. This particular example has an excellent oak case, finished in the traditional "Dark Oak" of English fashion.

You can't see it in these pictures, but with careful inspection we found the name of the maker on the dial "Samuel Buxton, Colchester" which we traced back to the earliest possible date of 1773 in England. The dial painter was Wilkes and Company. Because of the style of the dial and case, this clock was most likely made around 1780.

This fine clock even has some animation in the dial. You can see the interesting hand painting of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, with all the animals surrounding them - including the Serpent. Eve even moves her arm with the Fruit of Knowledge, as if to tempt poor Adam!

While we were researching this clock, we came across some other beautiful examples of the same era. Do you have one? Tell us about it! Let's hear from you in the comments.

BTW, if you like this wood finish, be sure to check out our "Handel" wall clock by Sternreiter. This finish is sometimes called "dark oak," or "antique oak," or "English oak" wood finish. It has a nice strong look that is somewhat more formal than our American oak finishes.