Remember the outlandishly beautiful violin I recently found that was appraised for thousands- IF I put thousands into repairing it? I thought I might have come across another rare, old piece, this time a clock.
But you might notice, I’m showing you pieces of it, not an entire clock.
Well, there was a bit more to the tale. I’d spied it on a dismal day of garage sailing, when this is all I came home with. It was in a free pile! I was very excited to see the gorgeous wooden case, and didn’t even look closely. I knew that if the clock itself wasn’t fixable, I could part it out and transform the case into a cabinet. Still, I could see at a glance that it was very old, and high quality.
(Pictured upside down)
My first step in the process of not hitting a jack pot? Letting the 7lb brass weight roll around and break the glass on the drive home.
But I knew glass could be replaced, so I spent some time researching online (where we all think we become experts) and discovered it was made in the late 1800s by a good name in clocks and could also be worth a lot, like my 1800s violin almost was.
Almost.
Third step, which shoulda been the first one, was examining the piece. And finding it was riddled with holes. Then seeing little beetles crawling out of those holes. It had an active infestation. And some parts of the wood were so eaten away, they were crumbling.
Fourth step was demo, salvaging the lovely brass, then disposing of the case and all of its friends, and treating everywhere it had been with diatomaceous earth so none of those critters stayed behind as souvenirs. Then I took a shower.
Okay, so now I am two for two on lucky seeming finds that are very pretty, but not worth what they could’ve been. I don’t consider either a loss, both were cool to come across whether they were valuable or not.
This was a fun adventure, even with the creepy crawlies.