Silas B. Terry vertical balance wheel steeple

SOLD

Silas B. Terry vertical balance wheel sharp gothic, 1849-1852.  In 1845, at the age of 73, Eli Terry was still inventing clocks.  He patented the balance wheel escapement that his son, Silas Burnham, used in this clock around 1850.  The oversized steeple case (24.5 inches tall, 13.25 inches wide) is veneered in mahogany with an old finish and only minor blemishes.  Both glasses are period/original, with a repainted Fenn tablet.  The dial is wood with old/original paint, two likely original hands (the seconds hand may be a replacement), and two openings to view the seconds bit and the very large vertical balance wheel that substitutes for a pendulum.  The brass movement is driven by steel springs (patented by SB Terry) housed behind the wooden fusees.  These clocks ran for just one day.  The clock is running and striking as appropriate on the wire gong.  Note the well-preserved label inside.  Antique American Clocks sold a similar example in 2023 for $7500 with a 15% premium, and a rarer example in that year for $21,000; Cottone’s sold one in 2023 for $5000 with a 25% buyer’s premium. 

There is no buyer’s premium and no sales tax on this sale (unless you live in Kentucky), and the price includes free delivery to anywhere in the eastern half of the US, or with a $250 subsidy to the western half of the country.