Banjo Clocks (American Shelf Clocks)

Movement & mechanism

• Weight-driven, typically eight-day, timepiece movement (many original examples were time-only, without striking)
• Anchor escapement with a pendulum housed in the narrow waist section
• Often decorated with reverse-painted glass panels on the waist and base

Identification

• Distinctive banjo silhouette — round head, narrow waist, rectangular base — is immediately identifiable
• Reverse-painted glass tablets, often depicting patriotic, nautical or floral scenes, on waist and base
• Patent or maker's labels on the case back, where surviving, assist attribution and dating

Terminology

• Waist — the narrow central section of the case containing the pendulum
• Reverse painting — decoration applied to the back of glass panels, viewed through the glass
• Willard-type banjo clock — clocks following Simon Willard's patented form or its many later imitators

Known variations

• Willard patent timepiece banjo clock
• Girandole clock (a related, more elaborate Massachusetts form)
• Later factory-made banjo-style clocks

Collecting notes

Early, documented Willard-family banjo clocks are highly regarded in American clock collecting; the enormous number of later nineteenth- and twentieth-century imitations makes attribution to an original patent-era maker versus a later reproduction an important distinction.

Sources & references

1. Palmer, B., A Treasury of American Clocks
2. Exact attribution of specific surviving banjo clocks to Simon Willard personally versus his workshop or imitators requires case-by-case research.

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.