Few antiques are as
popular as clocks antique. This is because of many
reasons. For one thing, an antique clock may be easier
to position in one’s house.
Another reason is that such clocks are not bulky or hard
to maintain, yet they are beautiful decorative pieces
that can add charm and beauty to any room. One can find
many antique wall clocks for sale nowadays, the most
popular of which would include antique school clocks,
antique banjo clocks, unique antique cuckoo clocks and
antique American grandfather clocks.
Antique German cuckoo clocks are also extremely popular
but with the purchase of any of these clocks, one must
remember that replacement parts for antique clocks can
be extremely expensive and hard to source. Of course,
each kind of antique clock has is different and hence
not all varieties of antique clocks may have this
problem so one must be cautious as far as the choice of
these items are concerned.
Many antique lovers do not mind keeping a
non-functioning antique clock in their homes from purely
a decorative point-of-view so that must also be
considered before purchasing an antique clock.
Although one can seek the
help of a price guide for antique clocks before making a
purchase, antique clock lovers would want to know about
the history of the clock. In ancient times, before the
existence or invention of time-telling machines, farmers
relied on seasons to get an idea of time.
The actual hour of the day or minute of the hour had no
actual relevance back in those days. One of the first
time-telling devices was the Egyptian obelisk whose
shadow was used to represent noon. Eventually, the hour
glass was invented and this was followed by
water-powered ancient time-telling machines.
There is evidence to suggest the use of certain
mechanical tower clocks in early monasteries in the
medieval era. Gradually, mechanical clocks without
pendulums were introduced sometime in the thirteenth
century. These clocks however, would chime every hour
but could not be read to tell the exact time. They did
not have dials. Almost over a century later, the first
clocks with hands and dials made an appearance but these
were made from heavy iron and were very large and bulky.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, the astronomer
Galileo worked on an invention of a
pendulum-clock-mechanism but did not live to complete
his creation. Thereafter the invention of the first
pendulum clock came to be attributed to an inventor
called Christian Huygens. With the increased efficiency
and accuracy that this invention provided, minute hands
now came into use.
Small household clocks started making an appearance by
the early part of the fifteenth century. After Huygens
invention swinging pendulums started to become popular
in household varieties of clocks. This eventually led to
the manufacture of grandfather clocks. Pricing antique
grandfather clocks can be a grueling task as the
appraiser must take the history of the clock, the era of
its manufacture and the quality of the mechanism into
account.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Items over hundred years are not permitted to be taken out of India without the permission of the Director General, The Archaeological survey of India, Janpath, New Delhi - 110 011.