Sperry clock, can anyone please tell me about this clock?

[Kreitano85]

 

[new2clocks]

Welcome to the forum.

If you click on the magnifying glass in in upper right corner and type in Henry Sperry, you will find three pages of threads on Sperry.

Your dial is a replacement dial from E. Swigert and Co, a maker of replacement dials.

Regards.

 

[Steven Thornberry]

From what I take away from Chris Bailey's article on the various Sperry's in the clock business in the October 1988 NAWCC Bulletin, Henry Sperry & Co. were in business at 18 Maiden Lane from 1852 to 1854. That would seem to give a good date range for your clock. Sperry was a retailer rather than an actual manufacturer of clocks. A look at the movement would be interesting. I wonder whether it might be something like this one, a so-called upside down movement with the suspension spring mounted above the movement

:

The movement that I show above comes from a J.J. Beals cottage timepiece. A similar one is shown in an August 1978 article beginning on page 395. The same movement, but right-side up, is shown in Lee Smith's article on Cottage Timepieces and their Movements in the December 1998 Bulletin. This upside down movement has come up before on the Forums. For example, check out posts 26ff in this thread: The most cheaply made clocks... | NAWCC Forums ; see this thread as, well: Conn. Clock Co. | NAWCC Forums . As stated in the second thread, these upside movements are often closely associated with Henry Sperry.

The cottage movements that I mention, however, are 30-hour (one-day) movements. Perhaps yours is an eight-day movement (not unexpected in a clock of this type) and thus altogether different? A look at it would be nice to verify, and then we can go off on another tangent.

As has been said, the dial paper is a replacement by E&J Swigart of Cincinnati and is much newer than the clock, in fact from the 20th century.

BTW, unfortunately, the Bulletin articles I linked to are accessible only by NAWCC members. Access to past Bulletin articles is a valuable benefit of NAWCC membership.

 

[Steven Thornberry]

Perhaps yours is an eight-day movement (not unexpected in a clock of this type) and thus altogether different? A look at it would be nice to verify, and then we can go off on another tangent.

So far as possible 8-day movements are concerned, the clock in Post # 1 might contain the "wind-at-seven" movement shown on pp. 70 and 71 of Gregory and King's book, The Clocks of Irenus Atkins. It was used in similarly-styled cases.

 

[Jim DuBois]

We keep seeing references to 18 Maiden Lane, 21 Maiden Lane, etc. Looking over some information for another clock I came across some engraved images of that particular block and surrounding area. Here is some of what I came across. It sort of changes my perception of "Maiden Lane."

 

[Steven Thornberry]

We keep seeing references to 18 Maiden Lane, 21 Maiden Lane, etc. Looking over some information for another clock I came across some engraved images of that particular block and surrounding area. Here is some of what I came across. It sort of changes my perception of "Maiden Lane."

Busy "little" street, wasn't it?

So far as possible 8-day movements are concerned, the clock in Post # 1 might contain the "wind-at-seven" movement shown on pp. 70 and 71 of Gregory and King's book, The Clocks of Irenus Atkins. It was used in similarly-styled cases.

I forgot to mention that, taking the dates for Sperry at 18 Maiden Lane as complete and accurate, the dates of the Atkins Clock Co. are not really compatible. So, there it is.

 

[rmarkowitz1_cee4a1]

We keep seeing references to 18 Maiden Lane, 21 Maiden Lane, etc. Looking over some information for another clock I came across some engraved images of that particular block and surrounding area. Here is some of what I came across. It sort of changes my perception of "Maiden Lane." View attachment 631139 View attachment 631136 View attachment 631137 View attachment 631138 View attachment 631135

Lower Manhattan was a bustling place of commerce in those days.

Often, certain trades/industries would concentrate in particular areas. So you had, "The Garment District", "The Diamond District" (which still exists), "The Flower District", "The Radio District " (the site of the World Trade Center). Looks like this was the place for jewelry and clocks?

See this for some additional info about Maiden Lane and what seems to be the typical evolution over time of many old neighborhoods in Lower Manhattan:

Daytonian in Manhattan: Search results for maiden lane (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com) Daytonian in Manhattan: Search results for maiden lane (daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com)

Hope the link works. See the history rather than just the specific building they discuss.

By the way, I think this is the best web site for info about Manhattan. Sadly, it's only Manhattan. Nothing covers the other 4 Boroughs of NYC nearly as well.

Except for the odd survivor, probably little remains of what you see in the images that Jim posted. However, see this:

16-18 Maiden Ln, New York, NY 10038 - Office for Lease | LoopNet.com

So some older structures, possibly dating to the days of those images, have managed to hang on. Probably now Zillion dollar open concept loft style apartments?

Use Google Street View to "walk" today's Maiden Lane. Some of the old buildings survive. Would be fun to try to match them up with the posted images?

RM

 

[Jessk09]

Here is a photo of the H.Sperry Steven showed. This is from
Brooks Palmer’s: A Treasury Of Great American Clocks. Circa 1967

 

[Jeremy Woodoff]

William Barthman Jewelers, at the corner of Maiden Lane and Broadway as seen in a couple of the illustrations, still occupied the same storefront until a few years ago, when it moved down the block, and eventually closed altogether. It had a wonderful, period interior. There is still a clock in the sidewalk, though it is not the digital version seen in the illustration.