John Birge & Co. 1848 Column & Cornice Clock - Before Photos

I've already posted the movement restoration from this clock, but lately I've been working on the restoration of the case, which has been on and off for the past year or so. At the current moment I have all of the case completely restored except for the crown moulding, which is always the most complicated part of the case to work on.

Since I'm so close to finishing the restoration on this clock, I want to take the time to post the "before photos" since I haven't done it yet, despite having owned the clock for well over a year (almost 2).

A quick warning: This post will be photo-heavy.

The most nerve wracking part of purchasing a clock like this one (very old, fragile/falling apart, and with lots of easily breakable original painted glasses) is getting it shipped to you. I've dealt with a good number of sellers on eBay, and I've learned that you just don't know how the seller will pack the clock. Even in cases where I made specific requests, often they will just do whatever they want. I've had cases where the clock had the glass protected with a masking tape X, plus a cardboard on each side, 10 layers of bubble wrap, and then double boxed, and on the extreme opposite, I've actually had one ogee clock that was mailed in a completely empty cardboard box. No wadded newspaper, no bubble wrap, no packing peanuts, NOTHING. It somehow survived the trip, but I just could NOT believe it. It's been so long that I'm no longer 100% sure which clock it was, but I'm fairly sure it was the largely empty (but rare) Charles Wilbur clock, which had no dial, no tablet, and an already cracked dial glass. Pictures and info here, if you're curious: http://www.angelfire.com/me5/clockman/charleswilbur.html

In any case, with this particular clock, most of the value for me was in the original tablets, so I was very nervous about what condition the clock would arrive in. Clocks from this period with both original tablets still intact are starting to be harder and harder to find. One thing that doesn't help matters is that a lot of these larger boxes get kicked around (or crushed) more than smaller parcels during shipping. I also had a previous disaster with the purchase of my first Birge & Fuller Column & Cornice clock (which is a whole other nightmare story of its own that I will save for another time). That clock arrived smashed to pieces, and took me a few years to restore.

Let's just say that when the clock arrived, I was already a bit nervous seeing that the box was slightly crushed...





Luckily for me, the Postal Gods were smiling down upon me that week, and the clock arrived safely in one piece.





I was a bit surprised that the clock did not arrive in slightly worse condition, because there really wasn't a ton of packing to protect it. One or two layers of thin bubble wrap, and a few scrunched-up layers of thin newspaper.

Now here are some of the better photos. I've mentioned it before, but it's worth briefly mentioning again: I've been having problems over the past year with my digital camera (difficulty focusing), and I will need a new one soon. Most of these photos turned out nicely, but several turned out blurry, and I had to sharpen the crap out of them in Photoshop.

One of the first problems you'll note with the case is that the columns are insanely crooked. They also appear to have been glued this way for a long time.



This case has some particularly nice cuts of mahogany veneer.





This centre tablet is truly magnificent. It is painted entirely freehand, and I have not seen another similar one on any other Birge clock of the period (and I've seen close to 100). There are a few scratches to the paint, and a tiny bit of lifting in the centre of a few flowers, but aside from that, the tablet has survived in extremely good condition.



I was lucky enough to secure the purchase of the original dial with the clock. If you will recall from the 2014 post regarding this clock (here), I purchased it from a rather unscrupulous seller who prefers to make money from these fine clocks by parting them out into multiple separate auctions. The dial was not marked as being the dial for this clock, but rather just as a "wooden works dial". I knew from past research what Birge dials looked like (and what to look for), and I was 95% sure that this was the dial that went with this clock. Clues for me were the size, the dotted minutes, the style of the numerals, and the circular centre opening. The most important detail, however, is the painted corner spandrels. Birge & Fuller had some of the nicest and most finely detailed floral corners, when compared with similar dials of the same period. If I were to be a bit more specific, I'd say that the flowers were usually composed of many more brush strokes/petals and with more detailed leaves than on other dials. The flowers on this specific dial, however, were a bit plainer than I am used to seeing, and they almost had an early "Seth Thomas" style to them (if you've looked closely at a lot of dials you might see what I mean by this). The quality of the dials was the best in the earliest examples (early 1840s) and gradually became plainer and simpler towards the 1850s. In the end I was correct, and the dial is unmistakably original to this clock. I will try to find a salvaged grommet to replace the missing one (none of the new ones offered match the shape or the width).





For comparison (and education), I've assembled this collage of early Birge dials (wooden dials prior to Birge & Peck). You'll note that the last John Birge dial is an exact match, except for the colour difference (light blue as opposed to pink on mine). Another interesting thing to note from this collage is that only ONE dial has the original hands. It is the third dial. All the others are incorrect replacements. The first dial on the list is from my 1845-47 Birge & Fuller Column & Cornice clock. You may also note that the first 4 dials, as well as the 6th one have identical leaf patterns, with only a difference in the style of the flowers. Some dials also feature single rings, or double rings.



Continuing with the case photos, you can see that the crown has been carved and sanded down in some corners during previous "restorations". This will be difficult to repair.





There's a better photo of this detail farther down. Both columns should be touching the inside corners.





The bottom tablet is equally beautiful, but it has a bit more paint loss than the centre tablet. This tablet is a combination of stenciled and freehand decorations. The stenciled portion of the design has a segmented circle, pointed triangles, and two toothed inner circles at the centre (done in silver bronzing powder). The design is then filled-in with shaded paints in blue, cream, and beige. The whole pattern is then decorated with a small freehand lace border, and corner florets. A lot of the backing "frosted" paint is missing, and there are several small scratches overall, but the tablet is in great shape.



This section of the crown moulding was NOT pictured in the listing photos (big surprise).





Another unfortunate bit of damage that wasn't visible in the listing were two broken chunks to the two corners of the columns. The top board is also split in several places.







Evidence of prior repairs to the crown include several wire nails (everywhere), and all sorts of putty filler (including over the screw holes).



Replaced (poorly fitted and poorly shaped) glue block.



One of several inscriptions. This reads: "Cleaned by R. S. Field". It originally took me some effort to decipher because the C and l almost form one fancy letter "C". I originally saw this as "Camd".



Another inscription. This one reads: "E. Erskine, Eldon Iowa, June 1 88" More info on this later.





One of the small drawbacks to this clock is that the label is only partial. Luckily "John Birge & Co" is still clearly visible. What's missing, however, is the Elihu Geer printer's name and address at the very bottom. Elihu Geer was the printer for the Birge labels, but his address on State Street (Hartford CT) changed almost annually, and the address would have been nice to see for research purposes.





I'm not sure what this mark is from, but I wasn't able to remove it with gentle cleaning. It may be a candle burn.



The movement was in terrible condition. It is a Joseph Ives "Roller Pinion" 8 day weight driven movement. All of these Ives movements feature rolling pinions in all the lantern pinions. These usually show nearly no wear after nearly 200 years of use. The wheels also have unusually shaped squared teeth. The "plates" are made up from strips (or straps) of brass which are riveted together. Back then brass was still quite expensive, and this was an easy way to build plates. Clockmakers know these as "strap brass movements". You can see the complete rehabilitation and restoration of the movement in my previous post here: http://jcclocks.blogspot.ca/2016/01/john-birge-co-movement-restoration.html



The gong was completely mangled. It took a lot of effort to straighten it out again (as much as possible). It doesn't look all that bad in this photo, but it is warped up, down, back up again, and also kinked in several places.



Lovely punch marks around the pivot holes (not repairable), and globs of solder everywhere.









The bottoms on almost all these early clocks tend to be in poor (chipped) shape. This one is no exception.



The end-grain veneers are especially prone to damage (because of the weaker glue bond). There are diagonal cracks through the base, and 2 or 3 cracks in the case side. Also note the missing chunk of wood at the back corner.





Proof that not all of these early clocks had perfect and clear grain/veneer. This clock has a smallish knot on the left side.

Mirror Clock Project Part 3 - Reverse Glass Painting

Picking out a design for the painted glass was a difficult process for me. Because I'm not making an exact copy of any specific clock, I had a lot of freedom for what I could pick for the design. The patterns used on these early clocks range from fairly simple, to extremely complex. Here are some examples of beautiful reverse painted dial glasses in several styles:



Clock 1 is very complex (lots of stencils, shading, and hand "engraving"), and it has the same look as glasses on early Aaron Willard shelf clocks. Glass 2 looks like a well made reproduction of an original pattern, complete with "engraved" gilding work in the corners, and stencil work. I especially like the third lime green Benjamin Morrill glass, with beautiful detailed acanthus leaves, and "engraved" corner flowers. The last 3 glasses use mainly simple stencils, in great combinations of colours. Most of these simple glasses use only two or three stencils.

My first sketch was a pattern loosely based on this tablet (which is unfortunately not very clear).





I simplified the pattern a bit, and coloured it in. I also made some sample colours to see which colour combination I liked best.



Red was the nicest. I liked the colours, but I found that the pattern was a bit too sparse and choppy, so I scrapped it.



It was around this time that I came across this beauty:



The original photo is quite large, and I was able to see all the small details in the tablet. I also ended up finding several variations of this tablet. One is shown below (nearly identical), and I also have one that uses browns, beige, and black, with flower decorations in the corners (the same flowers as the lime green Morrill glass above) rather than the bouquet of leaves. If you look again at the second clock in the first photo above (with the grapes) it uses the same corner leaf design as this tablet.



I thought this pattern looked quite busy, but it eventually grew on me, and I made a new sketch for it. I'm a very visual person, so I always prefer to draw myself a good "preview", especially for a complicated piece like this.





Since this is a copy of a clock from roughly 1820-1830, the glass I'm painting on is salvaged antique window glass. You will be surprised how easy it is to find ample amounts of free antique glass. I often pick up old wooden windows on garbage day, which is a great source of glass. Even if the windows are from a house built in 1920, the glass is usually still wavy, irregular, and often includes bubbles. Modern plate glass only started in roughly 1903, but wavy glass was still available for a long time after this. The house where I grew up was built in the 40s or 50s, and it had some wavy glass in the old original doors. Another source for old glass is an antiques store. One of the local places here in town keeps huge quantities of old window frames, and the owner doesn't keep the old glass. He turns these old windows into mirrors, and if I need any glass, he lets me remove whatever I like for free (as long as I'm careful). Glass shops also often replace old glass (and old mirrors), so if you ask nicely they can probably set some old glass aside for you. My local glass shop will often cut my antique salvaged glass either for free, or for a very nominal fee (1$). Since then, I've bought my own glass cutting tools.

If you plan to do a lot of projects that include glass, I strongly recommend that you NOT buy a cheap 5$ hardware store glass cutting tool. They are simply awful, and you will thank yourself later for spending a little more on a professional cutter. I bought my glass cutting tools from a stained glass shop (out of town). In general, they carry a "cheap" and an "expensive" glass cutting tool. Prices range from around 20$ to 50$ or more, and they also come with different styles of handles (pencil type, pistol grip type, etc). The "cheaper" tool uses a steel wheel, and the expensive one uses a carbide wheel. The "cheaper" tool is what I bought (by the recommendation of the stained glass shop owner), and it should last me for many years of use before the cutter head needs to be replaced. She told me that unless I plan to cut glass on a daily basis, I don't need the expensive carbide version. The tool is made with an internal oil reservoir, but she also told me that none of them at the studio use oil in their glass cutting tools, and to just use it dry. I took her advice, and I haven't had any problems.

Another very useful tool to have for glass cutting is a pair of running pliers. These are slightly curved-jawed pliers with a centre line and rubber protectors. They are used to split the glass in a clean line after you have scored the glass. At 15$, they were a great investment. The only other tool you need for glass cutting is a cork-backed metal ruler. You don't want to use a wooden one unless it's clamped or taped in place, because it WILL slide and mess up your line. Only score the glass ONCE.



Gilding on Glass

Tests were made on scraps of glass to see what method(s) would give the best results for the gilding on glass.



One of the first steps on this glass tablet was to create two thin black rings around the dial opening. This was by far the most difficult and frustrating part of the ENTIRE project. For this I used an old drafting set with an ink attachment. Thinned black paint was used, and after many tries (too thick, too thin, blobs, etc), I got the lines I needed onto the glass. To keep the centre point fixed, I simply used a Popsickle stick held in place with blue tack. My drawing served as my pattern.





The black dots in the corners are references marked on the front of the glass when installed in the door. Sometimes you will see that there is more space on 3 of the 4 sides, so this helps make sure that the pattern is centered on what will be visible when the glass is installed in the opening. The arrow points "up" (top of the tablet).

The next step is to apply the size and gilding. On this tablet, there are 4 "engraved" gilded corner decorations, and a gilded ring around the dial centre.





Once the gilding is dry, the pattern is scraped into the gold, using whatever tools work best for the job. I have seen some people use bamboo skewers, the ends of paint brushes, or metal tools such as small screw drivers. I used a combination of tools. One of them was the bottom of a paint brush, which you can see in the photo:





Add all the necessary details, and then scrape away any unwanted gold around the edges. These look time consuming and difficult, but they only took about 20 minutes each.







These corner decorations don't need to be perfect, or all the same. If you look at the original glass, you will see that they are all slightly different, and some are even crooked, or larger than others.



Stenciling and Painting on Glass

Even if this glass looks very complicated, it actually uses only 4 simple patterns. I drew mine by eye, but you could easily print out a photo and trace them. Once you have your patterns, cut them into stencils. I make my stencils from plastic folders meant for office papers. These are about 1$, and they resist strong chemicals, so they can be cleaned and reused.



The first parts of the design (the parts in the foreground) are done in gold bronzing powders. There is a leaf design at the top and bottom (centre), and the side ovals. Note that my glass is more rectangular than the original, so my oval patterns don't fall partially behind the dial ring. Mine are also less skinny than the originals.



Next, the ovals, leaves, and corner decorations are backed with black paint.



Once these are dry, the next step is to stencil the main leaves. The originals were done in a beige and cream paint, but I chose to do mine with silver bronzing powders instead. In the following photo, you can see a rough pencil sketch of the leaf placement from my drawing, but traced backwards (counter clockwise), so that they end up looking correct from the front (clockwise).

Normally, I prefer symmetry, and I'd like all the leaves to point "up", but ALL of the leaf designs on these early mirror clocks turn in a circular pattern and I have found no exceptions. I have also found that they almost always turn in a clockwise direction, so keep this in mind since you are painting in REVERSE. At this point in the painting process, a mistake usually means that you have to start over completely, since you can only remove things by scraping them off, or with solvents, which both run the risk of ruining nearby details.



Next, more leaves are added in gold bronzing powder. These tend to be random, and plentiful, so don't necessarily rely solely on your pattern. Just place them anywhere that they look good.



Picking the exact shade of reddish orange for the leaves was VERY difficult for me. I wanted something not too dark, not too light, not too bright, and not too boring. It had to closely match the original glass, but I also had to use the paints that I had available. I tried several blends of red, yellow, white, black, grey, brown, and orange, and after over 20 colour samples (only some are shown here), I ended up picking a custom shade of poppy red. The burgundy-brown background colour was actually the easiest to figure out, and that one took only 1 colour mix to get it exactly how I wanted.



Here's a better photo. Part of the problem I was having was that most of the shades of orange either looked too pink, too bright, or too red. You would think that simply adding a touch of black would solve this issue, but adding black turns the colour into a grey or brown. I spent at least a day and a half mixing colours and looking at them in different light.



A lot of these painted glasses are a mix of beautiful crisp details, and really messy, sloppy work. Try to aim for really nice crisp stencil lines (which is hard - a lot of my stencils had to be cleaned up around the edges with the tools I used for the "engraved" corner decorations), and do a slightly sloppier job with your background colours. If your glass is too perfect, it will run the risk of looking too new.



I ran into a problem with my background paint reacting with some of the silver bronzing powder areas. I mention this so that you can avoid it. When I applied the background colour, I thinned the paint slightly with turpentine. I assumed that the turpentine would dry fairly slowly and not cause any reactions, since it's a fairly mild solvent, but I was wrong.





Luckily these areas were fairly small, and I was able to flatten them out slightly once the paint had dried. If the reaction had been worse, I would have had to strip off the glass completely, and start over from scratch.

The background paint needed 2 coats (since it was thinned), and I did not thin the second coat. I'm very happy with the finished glass. You can also see in the next photo how nice and wavy the glass is.