Summer 2017

Summer 142 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com winterthur primer I n preperation for a recent exhibition at Winterthur, we inspected one dozen small clocks to assess their conservation needs. 1 The label inside a standard pillar-and-scroll shelf clock made by Seth Thomas’ manufactory (Fig. 1) amused us. It declares the clock “warranted, if well used,” meaning well maintained and well treated (Fig. 2). This painted dial clock was produced during the first boom-time of American clock making, when Seth Thomas, Eli Terry, and other Connecticut manufacturers shipped inexpensive and reliable clocks to markets around the nation. But the label is also a warning to would-be tinkerers. We found no instructions for cleaning clock dials and mechanisms in household servants’ manuals of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, although they teemed with recipes for polishing metals, glass, and wood furniture. Clock movement maintenance was, and remains, an area of professional expertise. We might suppose that antique clocks were regularly taken to local clockmakers for cleaning, but human hands and cleaning products have left ample evidence to the contrary. Even fingerprints from past owners sometimes remain etched on the brass plates. In addition to these traces, metal surfaces have been negatively affected by ingredients used in historic recipes to keep brass and silver gleaming. Polishing powders commonly used included cream of tartar, rottenstone, or even potassium cyanide in water, or soft soap with ammonia solutions, but modern chemicals have also left their mark. 2 Although well intentioned, Cleaning Time! by Ann K. Wagner Figs. 1, 2 : Shelf clock and interior label, manufactured by Seth Thomas (1785–1859), Plymouth Hollow, Conn., ca. 1818–1822. Museum purchase with funds from the Joyce Egan Memorial (1996.25).