A highly desirable selection of clocks crossed the auction block this past Sunday, February 17, during Skinner’s Americana auction. The crème de la crème of the offering was a 104-inch E. Howard No. 67 oak regulator wall clock, circa 1890, that sold after an active round of bidding for $165,900. Estimated at $30/50,000, the clock had a brass plaque mounted below the door that stated, “Presented by D.W. Hitchcock to the People’s National Bank, Marlboro, Mass, November 14th, 1892.” The broken arch pediment top featured a bull’s head carved in the center.

A circa 1790 Chippendale mahogany tall clock by Aaron Willard, bearing the original label engraved by Paul Revere was another gem. It sold for $100,725 against the estimated $30/50,000.

The cover lot was a carved pair of circa 1730 maple side chairs in black paint with distinctive arched and molded crests estimated at $50/75,000. They lifted off at $130,575 to a phone bidder. The rare chairs had come from the collection of Meshech Weare, the first governor of New Hampshire. An endearing circa 1853 William Matthew Prior portrait of a young boy in a red dress with a whip and a white rose was $112,575 against the estimated $15/25,000. A complete report will appear in a future issue of Antiques and the Arts Weekly.

⁆MM