George III musical bracket clock signed John Elicott, $14,500.

Ribault longcase clock, $11,000.

By Seymour P. Gersten

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. – A rare clock collection auction was held at the newly refurbished Certified Auction Gallery, at 2070 Scott Avenue, on Wednesday, April 3.

All in all, 147 rdf_Descriptions were sold, consisting of 20 watches and 127 clocks. What made this auction so unusual was the fact that they were all part of one collection that was assembled over 50 years. The watch prices ranged from a low $50 to $3,100. The clock prices were from a low of $20 to $14,000. To sum it up, the entire collection was sold for $178,500, exclusive of a 15 percent buyer’s commission.

A gold open Swiss pocket watch went for $100. An 18-karat Swiss gold quarter hour repeater pocket watch in a hunting case went for $500. And a rare 18-karat gold pair cased Verge watch, by John Ellicott, London, circa 1770, with a quarter hour repeater, two-day movement, serial #L255, was hammered down at $3,100.

As for clocks, a mahogany long-case clock, with three weight quarter strike, musical light bell and hour strike, by Stephen Rimbault, London, 1744-1785, sold for $11,000. Another, also a mahogany cased George III, long-case clock, time, strike, calendar dial and second bit, by Samuel Swain, London, Nineteenth Century, height 99 inches, came in at $9,000.

Some other fine clocks went for excellent prices as well. A giant George III musical bracket clock, signed John Elicott, circa 1780, height 43 inches, brought in $14,500. A French porcelain and gilt mantel clock by Leroy, with Sevres-type panels, height 17½ inches, sold for $2,250. An early French boulle and gilt bronze bracket clock, by Jacques Coignet, Paris, 1676-1691, was bid up to $4,750 and bought all that figure.

A skeleton clock with original glass dome, circa $1,850, brought $1,000 for the house. Another French crystal regulator brass clock with a mercury pendulum, height 13 inches, sold for $1,250.

Carriage clocks were in abundance. A champleve enamel brass mantel/carriage clock, height 5¾ inches, went for $600. One with an hour and a half repeater, height 77/8 inches, garnered $1,000. Still another carriage clock with a gold bronze case, and hour and a quarter repeater, works by R & Co., Paris, commanded $3,600.

Mantel clocks of many sorts were sold as well. A Black Forest shelf or mantel chalet form cuckoo clock, late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century, height 16 inches, brought in only $300.

A French polished slate mantel clock with an engraved inner dial went for $500. A Vienna triple weight regulator wall clock, height 52 inches, gaveled down at $700.

A Nineteenth Century French and gilded metal and figural mantel clock sold for $700. For $550, one bidder bought a Victorian oak cased mantel clock/barometer, works by Dent, London, with a thermometer in the center, dated 1893, height 14¼ inches, width 18¼ inches.

A three-piece French white gilt bronze garniture, with portico clock and a pair of matching candelabra, circa 1850s (clock height 16½ inches, candelabra 10½ inches) sold for $750. Lastly, a fine Ulysse Nadria ship’s two-day chronometer only went for $150.

Certified Auction Gallery is a partnership of two fairly young auctioneers; Sal Valenziano is 39 years old, and Daniel Perry, only 26 years.