19th-Century French Table Clock by Courtois

Appraised on: July 19, 2008

Appraised in: Chattanooga, Tennessee

Appraised by: Gary Sullivan

Category: Clocks & Watches

Episode Info: Chattanooga, Hour 2 (#1311)

Originally Aired: April 6, 2009

IMAGE: 1 of 3  

Appraisal Video: (2:07)

GUEST: I was having a little gun trade with a friend of mine and I saw this setting in his garage, and he said, "I bought that about eight or nine years ago in New Orleans," and it set there in that little wicker basket he had it in ever since.

APPRAISER: Uh-huh.

GUEST: He didn't want it, so I ended up trading him out of it.

APPRAISER: And how much did you pay for it?

GUEST: I've got about $500 in it.

APPRAISER: And you mentioned that you've done some research to try to find the maker's name.

GUEST: I have looked on the Internet and all and haven't... I've just hit dead ends about everywhere I've went on the Internet. (chuckles)

APPRAISER: Well, it's a French table clock. We can see on the dial here it says "Courtois," the maker's name, "Paris." The case is wonderful mid-18th-century style. It has bronze castings. All of these mounts, all the applied pieces are referred to as ormolu. You can see on the side here, it's got a ram's head. If we turn it around to the back, the movement is actually not the type that you would expect to see on a mid-18th-century clock. It's more like a 19th-century movement.

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: That would date from post-1850. It has lion's head pulls and a terrific dial with the porcelain numbers. This is a clock that originally would have had garnitures-- candelabra that went with it.

GUEST: Oh, yes.

APPRAISER: And because it's a later copy-- it's a 19th-century example of an 18th-century clock-- it would be worth less than the original version.

GUEST: Sure.

APPRAISER: So this is a clock, because it's such high quality and the size is wonderful, in a retail store you'd expect to pay $7,000 to $10,000 for it.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: Now, it's a clock that, in a fancy gallery, if they regilded it and made it all bright and shiny, I've seen clocks like this priced at $20,000 or more.

GUEST: Oh, wow.

APPRAISER: But it would cost several thousand dollars to have it regilded, so I wouldn't touch it. The patina is wonderful. It's a terrific clock.

GUEST: Oh, yes.

APPRAISER: Thank you for bringing it in.

GUEST: Thank you for telling me what it is, finally.