Dating Longcase Hands???

[leeinv66]

I brought these by mistake (poor auction pictures), but am happy to have them none the less. Now I am wondering just how old they are? They are either made from a very low carbon steel or iron. The backs are covered with file marks, so I figure they are hand formed. The hour habd is 4 3/4 inches from end to end and the minute hand is 5 3/4 inches long. They are a fairly simple design and I get the feeling they are quite early. Is there a way to determine when they would have been used?

 

[dAz57]

I think those are postmans clock hands, or shield clocks, the clocks with timber movements, I have a couple of pairs like that, looks like they were made in a sand mold, mine are brass

 

[leeinv66]

They look very similar, but they are not the same daz. I have several Black Forest shield clocks and a postman's clock, but the hands on all of those are shorter and made of brass like the ones you have. These one are far too long to fit the chapter ring on one of those clocks.

 

[leeinv66]

Bumping this one back up to see if anyone would even care to take a guess at the age of these.

 

[Scottie-TX]

My guess Pee-Tah is this knowledge may be outside the scope of many or most here and perhaps why the dearth of replies. To me they actually look like they could date to the 1700s due to their very crude forming and texture - perhaps before better steels were being produced. Just an opinion obviously.

 

[leeinv66]

My guess Pee-Tah is this knowledge may be outside the scope of many or most here and perhaps why the dearth of replies. To me they actually look like they could date to the 1700s due to their very crude forming and texture - perhaps before better steels were being produced. Just an opinion obviously.

I appreciate you giving your opinion Scottie! I am thinking along much the same lines. Perhaps the brass hands used on Black Forest Postman's and shield clocks were a later reproduction of this design? I hope someone out there has run into them before and can shed some light on their origin.