Fine Antique Grandfather Clocks
May 3rd, 2008 by julianahighsmithBy Daniel Clements Man who knows the value of time ROY Clements antique clock business began as a hobby more than 30 years ago but now draws customers from all over the world, including members of the Royal Family. As a partner in his company Coppelia Antiques, he employs 11 people at the Cheshire workshop and the company’s prestigious shop in London’s Mayfair. Roy, 65, was a senior engineer jetting all around the world with Pilkingtons until he took a six month holiday after building the Viking cycle factory for the British Government in Northern Ireland. “I used to restore my own clocks and those of other dealers, as a hobby, and my wife Valerie said why not do clocks full-time?” Roy explains. “After giving up a high profile job, company car and pension we have not looked back.” His firm, Coppelia Antiques has been based in Plumley near Knutsford since 1974. In 1995 they approached the Queen’s jewellers, Aspreys (now Asprey-Garrards), offering to take over their antique clock business, RA Lee. In its place Roy set up a new London company, Pendulum of Mayfair, and bought the former Fred Perry tennis shop in Maddox Street, off New Bond Street. Two of Roys three sons, Duncan and Daniel, are involved in the business, which came from a family fascination with clocks. My father was a very practical man, from an early age he let me look inside the clock mechanisms to see what made them tick, says Roy. I had a five year apprenticeship with the UK Atomic Energy Authority using all different machine tools, lathes and other mechanical devices, so I am part of the engineering world. Roy, a chartered engineer, has a boyish enthusiasm for the timepieces lovingly restored at the Plumley workshop, and is eager to explain the history and influence of British clock making. In the 18th century the best craftsmen were usually found in port cities such as Liverpool, Edinburgh, Bristol and Hull where mahogany could be found on the quaysides, carried as ballast in ships bringing cotton in exchange for slaves. Each city had a distinctive style of clock but all this variety came to an end in the first decade of the 19th century, with the introduction of mass produced clock faces and movements(mechanisms) in Birmingham. I stop at 1810, says Roy, consultant clocks editor of Millers Antiques Price Guide. He has amassed one of the finest collections of 18th century clocks in the world. But never again will it be possible to collect the clocks I’ve got, he says, mourning the loss of craft skills and the values which created objects still in use more than 300 years later. They are special, my clocks, not like things with a battery that you buy today and then throw away when the battery runs out. At the Cheshire workshop, where clocks stand eight deep waiting for restoration, staff serve a minimum apprenticeship of five years or more, preparing them to work on some of the finest antiques in the world. We completely dismember the movement, which can contain 20 pivots, and refit the wheels. For the cases, we only restore with wood of the same period, so we may buy an antique table for 1,500 and hand-saw it into veneers to replace the wood on a damaged clocks case - we are very much into recycling! Coppelia Antiques only work on clocks in sleepy original condition, with a minimum of parts changed. All their clocks have their correct movements and original bases, unlike many for sale in auction houses, known as marriages, in which the movements do not belong to the case. We do not buy these type of clocks, says Roy. We never apologise for spending three or four weeks in restoring or bringing back to life an old tired clock, so long as it has not been butchered in the past. After we have finished the restoration and we are happy, all our staff admire the piece and it gives us all a lot of satisfaction. We have transformed something thats not been touched for over a hundred years sometimes, into something that you want to hold and cuddle. Roys personal clock collection includes one once owned by Rudyard Kipling, bought for 13 guineas in 1934, a brass lantern clock from the 1600s, made by one of the first clockmakers in Lancashire, and one of the first Cumberland clocks, made by Aaron Cheeseborough. Many clocks come with their own stories, such as the one bought from an old lady who remembered how, as a young girl, she had to curtsey every time it chimed. Roy also collects music boxes and other automata, such as a 19th century French music box featuring a monkey that smokes cigarettes, blows smoke rings and wafts the smoke away with its paw. The monkey was featured in an episode of the Sherlock Holmes TV series and smoked so many cigarettes that one of its tubes was blocked with tar and had to be replaced - proof that smoking is bad for monkeys. Some customers, aware that time is money, buy antique clocks as tax-efficient investments, as they are exempt from capital gains and inheritance tax. One 90-year-old lady approached Roy to invest more than 3 million in clocks recently. Another tax rule exempts the clocks from VAT if they are exported, which explains the sad statistic that 87pc of sales go to the US, says Roy. As he talks about his love for clocks, an orchestra of chimes, bongs, rings and tings builds to a crescendo as the hour approaches. Roy has a simple explanation for the fascination of clocks, particularly grandfather clocks. Each tick is at a frequency of one per second, which is very similar to the first sound we hear, our mothers heartbeat in the womb. It’s very soothing if you are in a room alone with a grandfather clock. http://www.pendulumofmayfair.co.uk Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Clements http://EzineArticles.com/?Fine-Antique-Grandfather-Clocks&id=528796 secured personal loan magnum payday loans quick guaranteed personal loans feds loaning money
