What does ormolu actually mean?

Gilded bronze or brass. In clock listings it covers both a case cast entirely in gilt metal and gilt mounts applied to a case made of something else. Marble and porcelain are the two commonest materials those mounts are fixed to, with boulle and timber behind them.

Are ormolu clocks always French?

Not always, but close to it. Of 790 titles on Sellingantiques, 505 say french, and Paris is named in 45 of them. The rest are a small minority. English cases with fusee movements and London signatures appear in a handful, and German makers surface in a few Lenzkirch and Ting Tang entries.

Why do dealers spell it mantel and mantle?

Both spellings are in use and mean the same thing: a clock made to stand on a chimneypiece. Mantel appears in 258 titles, mantle in 98. A few titles manage to use both at once. Searching either way is worth doing.

The clock with matching side pieces, usually urns or candelabra, made and sold together as a set for the chimneypiece. Garnitures and clock sets account for 58 titles and take a disproportionate share of the upper end of the range, including one set with ten-light candelabra.

How old are most of these clocks?

The dated field runs from 1750 to 1960, but the weight of the category is 19th century. Where decades are given they gather in the second half of it, the 1880s the fullest bucket. Genuine 18th-century material is a fringe, with only 14 listings placed there. The commonest dating of all is the plain phrase 19th Century, used in 199 listings. Earliest in the archive are a Louis Quinze pendule and a drum-head clock, both at 1750.

Do wall-hung ormolu clocks come up often?

Less often than chimneypiece ones. Cartel appears in 29 titles and wall in 25, against 258 for mantel. Portico clocks, standing on columns, turn up in 40. Boudoir and drum-head clocks, four-glass regulators and a few bracket forms fill out the remainder.

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Antique Ormolu Clocks

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A clock in a gilt-bronze case, or with gilt mounts applied to marble, porcelain or timber, made to stand on a chimneypiece as an ornament as much as a timekeeper.