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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Clock type · Domestic

Dutch Staartklok and Friesland Clocks

Partially verified

Dutch wall clocks with a painted dial, a short tail housing the pendulum and richly decorated case work.

Movement & mechanism

  • Weight-driven movements with anchor escapements
  • Striking on a bell, frequently with a repeat of the previous hour
  • Lead weights on pulleys within the tail

Identification

  • Painted arched dial with moving scenes in some examples
  • Short tail below the dial housing the pendulum
  • Decorated lead or brass mounts typical of the region

Terminology

  • Staartklok
  • Stoelklok
  • Friesland

Known variations

  • Stoelklok, staartklok and Amsterdam variants

Collecting notes

Originality decides value and interest: check that movement, dial and case belong together, and prefer honest wear over refinishing. Movement work belongs with a clockmaker; cleaning a dial or case yourself commonly destroys the evidence that dates the clock.

Related photographs

Longcase clock
Longcase clock — AKS.9955, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

No confidently matched photograph of this subject has been found yet. These photographs show a closely related record, and are not examples of the type described on this page.

Sources & references

  1. Britten, F. J., Old Clocks and Watches and Their Makers
  2. Loomes, B., reference works on British clockmakers (edition-dependent)
  3. Museum catalogue descriptions of comparable examples

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