French Figural Clock, ca. 1850
GUEST: I inherited this from my grandparents. They had it on their mantle, I have it on my mantle now, but I was with them when they bought it in 1967. My grandfather fell in love with this clock because of the horses, and I'm so pleased that I have it on my mantle like they had it on theirs.
APPRAISER: Do you remember what your grandparents paid for this clock, back in 1967?
GUEST: I do not.
APPRAISER: And do you actually run it in your house and, and... yeah.
GUEST: Oh, yes. Oh, yes, it has a really nice ting. In fact, since we've been here, it's been tinging just a little bit. It's a 14-day clock, and it keeps regular time. It's still viable.
APPRAISER: I think it's an eight-day clock, not 14.
GUEST: Oh!
APPRAISER: What do you love most about this clock?
GUEST: I think I like it because it's so pretty, it's eye-catching, and I love the, the scene on top. We believe that this is the Battle of Vouillé...
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: ...in 500, I think, A.D.
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: And, uh, Clovis here is getting ready to defeat this guy. So he was fighting a lot of the, the districts in, at that time, Gaul, and I think this guy was the last one standing.
APPRAISER: Right.
GUEST: ...so he got this one, and so he's the first Catholic king of France.
APPRAISER: Right. It's interesting, these sculptures are hardly ever signed, and this one holds true to form, so we don't really know who did it. This clock was made in 1850. There are a lot of what I call French figural clocks that come in...
GUEST: Uh-huh.
APPRAISER: ...that are completely out of fashion these days, but I would dare to say that this one is not out of fashion.
GUEST: (chuckles)
APPRAISER: It's so well done and so over-the-top. Fancy French, just beautiful.
GUEST: Thank you.
APPRAISER: Interestingly, it's-it's a combination of the bronze sculpture, and then you have these brass elements here and this military motif with bows and arrows. There's a bow here, swords coming out, uh, the dog at the bottom.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: Just great. And then you have these brass elements that are really a different color from the bronze. It just sort of ages differently. It probably was all the same color at one time, but now it's a little bit two-toned. The case is made of Belgian slate, and it's heavy, as you know, but great quality.
GUEST: Yes.
APPRAISER: And I love the dial, the dial is-is Belgian slate as well. Fancy French hands. Just beautiful. Really, really first-rate quality. What do you think the-the value of this clock is?
GUEST: I have no idea, when you said it's over the top, I don't know! (chuckles)
APPRAISAL: Yeah, if you were to sell this clock, I think you would really want to find a high-end store like on Madison Avenue or Royal Street, New Orleans, which is where I think it would do the best, priced at a retail value of $8,000 to $10,000.
GUEST: (softly): Wow. I'm surprised. That's great. My grandparents would really like that.
APPRAISER: I mentioned that it strikes. Maybe we can make it strike.
(clock striking discordantly)
APPRAISER: (chuckles) I guess we can make it strike, but it's.... Needs a little fine tuning.
$8,000 - $10,000 Retail
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Understanding Our Appraisals
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Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."
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