Cool
clocks, Barry. A nice addition to your already extensive collection. I need your advice, (or anyone else's). I bought one of those 1970 Nathan George Horwitt for Howard Miller Museum Clocks that was just mentioned on a thread a few days ago. It's the all black one with the big white dot that represents 12 o'clock. It is for resale. The matte white paint around the edge has scratches on it that could be easily fixed with a fresh coat of paint. Should I do that myself or just sell it like it is? I mean, it's a quick easy fix that would restore it to near mint condition, but would a collector prefer to do that him/herself? Paint or not paint, what do you think?
Hard to tell about what to do with that Museum Clock.....
It's not going for all that much, so I guess i'd try to restore it so you can get as much as possible...but I doubt it would be worth anymore than $30 or $40.
I have been lucky finding wall clocks, but I haven't a single table model!
I like the Umanoff
Nice clock, Barry.
Just to make sure this threat stays clear, it is my understanding that none of the ceramic meridian clocks were designed by Nelson, though they were distributed by Howard Miller. [Nelson's office did design the earlier, rare ceramic table models in 1953). Please let me know if anyone has contrary information, but I understand this has been confirmed through review of the Nelson archive.
I'm not sure about the second hand, possibily not.
As to the Meridian Clocks, since all of them have the copyrighted Nelson hands, as well as the Rosewood clock with the silver frame and 12 small sound silver discs - hour indicators (7564) being part of the Meridian brochure, I'm certain that they were approved by the George Nelson office. My guess is that Howard Miller and the Italian ceramic factory (Bitossi?) got together and a number of designs were submitted to Miller and Nelson and the arrangement was made. I'm certain that Irving Harper was involved.
So, I consider them Nelson clocks. (The brochure is dated 1964).
Meridian Clocks
I don't think either Nelson or Harper had anything to do with those clocks, Barry. I understand Howard Miller had the right to use the hands so they sent them to Italy to be stuck onto some ceramic disks. Another example is Umanoff, who designed many Howard Miller Clocks after Nelson, but regularly "borrowed" Nelson's hands for his designs.
You will also note in the brochures that the Meridian clocks claim they come from the "skills of well-known designers and artist-craftsmen" whereas those clocks designed by Nelson are VERY prominently attributed to him in all marketing materials.
Moreover, Vitra tirelessly researched this issue when they put together the Nelson book. They confirmed the Nelson office was not involved in the ceramic wall clocks or that aluminum rosewood model that is listed in the Meridian catalog with them. (See George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher, List of Works, at 284-303 (listing all clocks attributed to Nelson's Office).) No evidence of involvement by the Nelson Office in those clocks was found in the Nelson archives, which contain drawings of almost all of the other clocks.
Furthermore, Irving left Nelson's studio in 1964 so it is very unlikely he was involved in any of those designs from a timing perspective.
So, again, if anyone has information other than Howard Miller using Nelson's old hands on these clocks, I'd love to hear it.
From what I understand
Umanoff was working for the Nelson Office during his time designing clocks for Howard Miller.
Those Meridian Italian ceramic dishes were sent over here and Howard Miller did the motor and hands installation, and I don't think that the George Nelson office would allowed use of their hands on products that they had nothing to do with, or approved.
I also think that as soon as the arrangement ended between George Nelson and Howard Miller, that signalled the end of Howard Miller's allowed use of the Nelson hands.
Umanoff never worked for Nelson ...
This too is confirmed in George Nelson: Architect, Writer, Designer, Teacher at 338 (Members of the Nelson Office [including clock designers Harper, Pollock, and DeRespinis]). None of this is to say that some of those Meridian and Umanoff clocks aren't nice. They're just not Nelson designs.
As for the use of the hands, and this part is pure speculation, I suspect that Howard Miller bought those designs, along with the right to manufacture the clocks themselves, from the Nelson office and could use them as they saw fit.
And sometimes unfit. One classic example of this is the ball-inspired clock that uses wooden squares with Roman numerals on them in place of the balls. They come up regularly on ebay. It is model #571 (rather than the ball clock's #4755) and is most certainly NOT a Nelson design, even though it uses every piece of the ball clock with the exception of the balls themselves.
That's interesting information, MidMod
since I've been trying to understand how and when the relationship between Howard Miller Clocks and George Nelson ended and (apparently) soured, since anyone who calls Howard Miller these days gets a total cold shoulder when asked about anything during the Nelson era.
If indeed the clock hands were owned by Howard Miller, then I wonder why when the arrangement ended, clocks having Nelson hands were sold with the standard antique Howard Miller hands.
Since I don't yet have the book you refer to (the Vitra exhibition book??) I'm surprised that Umanoff wasn't involved with George Nelson. His designs certainly are a continuation of the Nelson style and his stuff is often refered to as being connected with Nelson.
Nothing lasts forever, but It's still weird about 1) why Howard Miller is so weird about anything relating to George Nelson, and 2) why they didn't have anything to do with the reissue sceme that happened between Jacquline Nelson and Vitra.
Certainly, the story has not been totally written.
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com