sunflower clock
My wife and I went to an auction in a small rural town in Pennsylvania. This is a small coal town in central PA. Not by any means a hot bed of mid-century treasures. After checking the local auction listings I found an auction that had a vintage sunflower clock coming up at this weekly auction. There was not any other modern treasures other then a pair of "Sears" type "Danish American" chairs. My wife and I are not financially wealthy. We have worked hard and searched all over to "thrift" our mid-century treasures. After spending the next few days trying to find what a vintage sunflower clock retails for and looking at the price of a new one I was ready for this auction. When we got to the auction I thoroughly inspected the clock. The second hand was missing, but I was not sure if they always had one or not. The minute hand had a very slight bend in it. The wood was in very good shape, with no splits and it had a beautiful patina. A local mid-century picker was there who at this point wants to kick my a**, from some past events concerning mid-century furniture. (never in my life did I think someone might want to beat me up because of furniture) The biding started very low and shot up fast. There was a pause in the biding. I was in at the top of my limit. $550.00! This is a great deal of money for me! I had beat my arch nemesis! This clock was about to be mine. Then from the back of the auction house and a phone bidder I did not even notice went to war. The phone bidder lost to the man in the back. The final price--- $ 1500.00 ! The people were amazed. They had no idea why that clock went for so much money. They nervously clapped. The old man standing beside me asked " what is that clock made of?" I said "wood". He looked at me and said, " it is not even a grandfather clock." The only reason I really went was to make sure someone did not get that clock for $100 or cheaper. I did end up with a vintage LED watch that still works for five dollars. It is all fun!!!!
davis
Those clocks that you mentioned are the ones that can be purchased from almost all of the China importers
What is the chance that you can talk to the reps and see if they can come up with some of the older styles between, Barry, Jesse, and My self and several
other people on this forum we could come up with some more of his clocks, I know it is safe to say the Chinese are not paying the Nelson estate, to mass produce those clocks in China as the goods ones are going to a small amount of distributors,
I know the boys in China buy the Vitra clocks strip them down and make there own over in China,
The clocks have not been that mass produced yet!!!, Like your self All world in California, and White in NYC are the only two in the USA selling them and that is good. ( all I know)
Believe it or not they are not popping up every where yet, and that is good cause no one wants the market flooded with Fake nelson clocks, as it ruins the value of what we have, real or not real check it out for us see if we can get some new designs,
Found another one
in the September 1958 copy of INTERIORS:
"fans out flat spokes of walnut ot grained birch from a central brass disk for a new wall clock designed by George Nelson. Multicolored metal hands point to porcelain bead hour markers. measuring 14 inches in diameter, it is available with electric plug or eight day wind mechanism to retail at about $25"
Beautiful clock!
Lucifer...that is what is
so amazing about the Nelson clocks.
There's so bloody many varieties! Sure, some are kinda weird looking, but lots of them are just plain elegant. Most of the table models and about 1/3 to 1/2 of the wall clocks are among the most beautifully designed, popularly priced decorating items of the 1950's/1960's.
It's the sheer number and the fact that no publisher is interesting in putting together a book about 'em is what intrigues me so much.
Enter the den of the beast
In terms of a book, has anyone tried contacting Vitra? Seems like they'd have the resources, the know-how, the market, and the incentive to put out a book. Hell, I bet if they did the research they could find 8-10 more clocks to produce and sell. Like that lovely one Barry posted above 🙂
Incidentally - I was playing around with an inflation calculator for the Eames/luxury thread and I punched in some vintage clock prices
Eye Clock: $50/1964 - $340 today
Ball Clock: $30/1964 - $204 today
Star Clock: $60/1964 - $408 today
Funny, not too much difference between then and now.
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