Silas B. Terry Steeple Clock

This steeple clock was constructed in 1834 by Silas B. Terry of the noted Terry Clock Company of Connecticut. It has an oversized balance wheel with an enlarged rack lever style escapement. The thirty-hour time and strike movement is powered by two mainspring driven wooden fuzees. The brass plates of the movement are in one-piece strap style. The banded mahogany steeple-design case is in the “sharp Gothic” style. It features a full-length door with a reverse painted glass panel in the bottom portion of the door.

Silas B. Terry was trained by his father, Eli Terry, another famed clockmaker at the turn of the nineteenth century. He began his own clockmaking business in 1831 before forming S.B.Terry & Company in 1852 (a partnership with two other relatives) and later the Terry Clock Company in 1867 (run with his two sons).

Terry was known for his innovative clock designs, which were made in very limited numbers and are now highly sought by collectors. It has been suggested that there may have been fewer than thirty examples of this particular clock in existence.

 

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