I have a number of clocks based on Chauncey Jerome’s 1857 patent for a clock case front, but this is the first with a Chauncey Jerome factory label. The clock likely dates to 1857, during the eight months, starting in the spring of 1857, when Jerome was working for Wm. L. Gilbert. See my write-up on another patent case clock likely made during Jerome’s tenure with Gilbert for more detail on the unpleasant circumstances Jerome faced working for Gilbert.
Label identifying the maker as Chauncey Jerome of New Haven, Conn. There is little to distinguish this label from one dating to Jerome’s pre-bankruptcy period. Many of the characteristics of this label (for example, border pattern and illustration of the Jerome factory) are identical to labels used by Jerome from the late 1840s until his bankruptcy in February of 1856. However, two clues definitively date this to post-bankruptcy. The first is the printer’s line indicating that it was printed by Benham at the Glebe Building on the corner of Church and Chapel streets. Benham moved from 55 Orange St. to that location sometime between the printing of the 1855 New Haven Directory and the 1856 Directory. The directories were typically printed in June. The second is the fact that rare labels for the New Haven Clock Co., identified as the successors to the Jerome Manufacturing Co. and printed by Benham at 55 Orange St., are known. Therefore, any labels printed by Benham at the Glebe Building identifying Chauncey Jerome as the maker date to AFTER Jerome’s bankruptcy. Note that this same rule can be applied to clocks identifying the maker as “Jerome & Co.”. If it is a Jerome & Co. clock with a label printed at the Glebe Building, it is a product of the New Haven Clock Co. that post-dates the bankruptcy of the Jerome Manufacturing Co. “Jerome & Co.” was a trade name used by the New Haven Clock Co. for decades.
Another interesting aspect of this label is that it is deceptive. The clock was not made in New Haven; it was made in Ansonia. And it certainly was not made by Jerome in the former Jerome factory, which, by this point, was no longer owned by Chauncey Jerome. Nor, for that matter, was it made by the New Haven Clock Co. in the former Jerome factory. In his autobiography, Jerome complains about other makers using his name and reputation to sell clocks. Given that Jerome (according to his autobiography) was not paid by Gilbert for his work, this clock can be seen as doubly fraudulent: it was not made in the Jerome factory in New Haven, and, despite the maker’s name implying otherwise, it was a product that profited only Wm. Gilbert.
Strip pasted to the back side of the door stating “Patented April 14, 1857, by Chauncey Jerome.”
Front view of the type 2.311, 30-hr movement, made by the Ansonia Brass Co. Ansonia was a known supplier of some types of movements to Wm. L. Gilbert.
Rear view of the type 2.311 movement.
This clock was formerly in the collection of Snowden Taylor and was purchased at an auction at the 2018 Eastern States Regional.