Timby Solar Clock, ca. 1865

Appraised on: July 23, 2011

Appraised in: Tulsa, Oklahoma

Appraised by: Robert Cheney

Category: Clocks & Watches

Episode Info: Tulsa, Hour 2 (#1602)

Originally Aired: January 9, 2012

IMAGE: 1 of 2  

Appraisal Video: (0:59)

GUEST: I brought in a clock. I think it's called a Mars clock.

APPRAISER: A Mars clock?

GUEST: Yes.

APPRAISER: Okay. Well, it's not called a Mars clock, but I'm sure that probably that name came about because of the Earth here, and it has a celestial sort of make about it, but it's actually a Timby Solar clock, that's T-I-M-B-Y.

GUEST: Okay.

APPRAISER: And Theodore Ruggles Timby was an inventor. He had four patents related to this clock, and he teamed up with Gilman Joslin in order to put a globe within a clock mechanism so that the globe would rotate as the clock was telling time. The Timbys were manufactured between 1863 and 1865. There's about 600 of these that were known to be manufactured. Today's valuation is about $4,500 at auction.

GUEST: Interesting. Yeah, very good.