A matching set of clock and side ornaments, usually candelabra or urns. The word appears in 60 titles. The samples include three-piece sets in marble, porcelain, cloisonné and champlevé. A clock still with its garniture sits above the clock on its own.

Are most mantel clocks French?

France supplies the largest single strand. Of 2,914 listings, 896 titles say french, against 60 that say english, and those French clocks bring the gilt bronze, ormolu, marble, slate, boulle and porcelain cases with them. German work runs through the category too, with Black Forest cases and several named German firms recurring. The English contribution is mostly wooden-cased Edwardian and Victorian clocks, plus the bracket and fusee tradition.

How accurate are the dates in listings?

Treat any single decade as the dealer's estimate. The dated field runs 1700 to 1960, and 1,738 of the 2,914 listings carry a clean year. The rest are dated to a reign or a century. "19th Century" alone accounts for 442 listings, with hundreds more given only as Victorian, Edwardian, Regency or Georgian. Titles sometimes say circa 1750 where the date field says nothing more than Georgian.

What does Sheraton inlaid mean?

It describes the Edwardian revival taste for marquetry urns, garlands and shell fans on mahogany and satinwood cases. Sheraton appears in 68 titles, 61 of them as the phrase sheraton inlaid. The wider inlaid strain is bigger still, with 332 titles using the word, and the samples add butterfly, herringbone, garland and Grecian-urn motifs.

Why do some listings spell it mantle?

Both spellings are in use. Of the titles, 173 say mantle rather than mantel, and that spelling is far more common in current stock than in the archive. Worth knowing when you search, since the two spellings return different results.

Do unusual novelty clocks turn up?

Now and then. The samples throw up a swinging-maiden automaton chalet clock, an artist's-palette timepiece, a ships-wheel novelty, an Egyptian-revival case with a bronze sphinx and an early electrical clock in hammered brass. Institutional and transport provenance appears occasionally too, including a GWR station master's clock and RAF officers' mess clocks. Around 325 mantel clocks are listed on Sellingantiques in a year, and 187 different dealers have listed one, so the spread is wide.

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Antique Mantel Clocks

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A clock built to stand on a chimneypiece or shelf rather than hang or stand on the floor, serving as a room's main timekeeper and a piece of display in its own right.