Japy -car boot find

[Wishiknewmore]

Hello, I have been car booting again! I found this small simple black slate/marble clock,
The clock seems to be complete, a few small nibbles in the usual places and it seems to have spent an afternoon out in the rain sometime as the pointers and the adjusters are slightly rusty, but she runs, the case needs to the 10mm off level to get it in beat and it chimes continually on the hour, but so far so good!
What I would like to know, is about the mark. It's a "Japy Fils Medailles D'argent;1844 -1849" does this mean that the movement was made, say, immediately after 1849 or could it mean that the movement could have been made 50 years later and they used stamp until they got a "better" award?
Any information, comments or advice would be much appreciated
Philip

 

[new2clocks]

What I would like to know, is about the mark. It's a "Japy Fils Medailles D'argent;1844 -1849" does this mean that the movement was made, say, immediately after 1849 or could it mean that the movement could have been made 50 years later

The award mark only provides a 'no earlier than' date of manufacture. There is nothing that precluded Japy from using the award mark, as you stated, fifty years later.

By the looks of your clock, my estimate of manufacture is circa 1880, but this is just a guess. Others may have different opinions.

Regards.

 

[wow]

Hey, Wishiknewmore. I wish I knew more about car booting. What is that?

 

[PatH]

I wondered if it's what we might call a trunk or tailgate sale? I know some clock gatherings have tailgate sales in the parking lot before the meetings or the actual event set up. Looking forward to hearing if that's the type of sale where this clock was acquired.

 

[JTD]

I wondered if it's what we might call a trunk or tailgate sale? I know some clock gatherings have tailgate sales in the parking lot before the meetings or the actual event set up.

That's it exactly. The 'boot' is what is called the trunk in USA. Some car boot sales are weekly or monthly and are often not restricted to any particular 'theme' (such as clocks) but are a source of a huge variety of things, often just junk, but sometimes nice things turn up, such as this clock.

JTD

 

[Wishiknewmore]

Hello, a Car Boot sale, is an term used in the UK to describe a small ad hoc market in a village hall, ,car park, playing field, where totally random household stuff is sold, mostly by private individuals, in theory from their car boot ( or car trunk)
However, this clock was actually bought in France ( while on holiday) from what is locally called a "vide grenier" which I understand means "empty attic" or "empty loft" , there sales are very well organised in the part of France we visit , generally the centre of the village is given over to the sale and it takes most of a Sunday, a village may have them between 1 and 3 times a year
Philip

 

[jmclaugh]

Nice clock. That particular mark isn't afaik seen that often. As to when it was in use Japy Freres et Cie was formed in 1854 so it would be reasonable to assume thereafter they began to use that name as opposed to Japy Fils but I can't say for sure. I would think the RA is the mark of the movement finisher.

 

[Burkhard Rasch]

nice humble clock , congrats! A good starter to learn about these underestimated high quality clocks! Movement , case and dial should be treated appropriately and certainly will come out nice . The strike not stopping could mean that the stop wheel of the strike train might have lost a verry small pin in the rim interacting with the stop lever governed by the count wheel/locking plate . In principle a simple fix , but the plates have to come appart for this. Good luck! (BTW has anyone recommended "The French Marble Clock" by Niklas Thorpe ? A must-have when dealing with these beauties)
Burkhard

 

[Schatznut]

Sounds like what we call a "swap meet" in the US. Bring a trunkful of stuff, set it up on a blanket in a parking lot with a bunch of other like-minded people, and try not to go home with more stuff than when you arrived.