The Restoration of a Black Forest Automaton

With the help of a good friend, we were able to track down a clock that has been on our want list for many years. Christmas has came early to our private museum Sorry Santa!

This clock had been in the same collection in the UK for over 50 years, until making its way to Black Forest USA. This Black Forest Automaton is one of the hardest of all the complex BF automa clocks to find, with only a small handful in existance. He was made C.1870 in Schwarzwald, it was made for the English market.

This post will focus on our conservation efforts to bring him back to its original beauty.
When he arrived to us, he came with nearly 140 years of grime, wax and smoke build up. The figure was very dark, much of the original color seemed to be lost. We brought him to a renound art conservator, who very carfuly cleaned years of grime from the figure. The original finish was in fantastic condition, we opted to do NO TOUCH UP, but to leave him 100% original.
After the cleaning was done, a new clear varnish was applied to protect it for another centry. We could not be more pleased with the outcome!

We have attached a you tube video of the clock in action! For more detailed photos, or to see other clocks in our private museum check us out at blackforestclocks.org

Related posts: Beer Drinkers, Automata, Dumpling Eaters, and more Beer Drinkers.

Beer Drinker

There is a long tradition of Beer Drinking automata in the Black Forest clock world. Certainly, there is some cultural significance to beer in Southern Germany. It may come as no surprise that beer is featured heavily in art and crafts from that region.

I recently found this great automaton on YouTube.

This one is interesting because it actually features a tube and pump of liquid being poured and swallowed by the mechanical figure.



There are also several new clocks, available today that feature a drinking figure, both in cuckoo clocks, and large mechanical figurines.





Stay tuned for a forthcoming post from Justin and his new prize: an Antique Black Forest King Beer Drinking Automaton.

Related Posts: Automata, Beer Drinkers and Dumpling Eaters

Rat Eater part 2

I thought I would do a quick follow-up post on the delicious Rat Eater owned by our friend and collector J. Miller.  This information and material is copied from the previously-mentioned discussion at the NAWCC forums...

Apparantly it was quite common, during time of war, for soldiers and citizens to be driven to eating rats - especially during sieges.  There are some accounts (during the Franco-Prussian war) of rat-sellers and one American journalist even writes about the best rat recepits and the comparisons between dog, cat, and rat meat.

Here is a painting by  of a "Rat Seller"(c.1870)

Here is an account from 1871 by an American journalist, shut in in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war

...and another account of eating rats in Metz c. 1814

Rare Black Forest Clocks

We are always happy to hear from our friend J. Miller. He's got quite a collection of rare and unusual antique Black Forest Clocks. He most recently acquired an exteremly rare piece from the 19th Century, and there is only ONE of these known to exist in the world.



This "Rat-Eater" is a very rare example of a set of German automata known as "Dumpling Eaters." For whatever reason, the clockmaker here decided to make the figure eat rats instead of dumplings or sausages.



(see more pictures on our Flickr photostream here )

There is also a very fascinating discussion about the clock here. Apparantly there are several interesting accounts of eating rats during wartime.

The rat eater isn't a clock you can run out and buy, but North Coast Imports is pleased to offer automata that eat dumplings and drink beer. Rombach und Haas has the only original Black Forest clock that eats dumplings or drink sips of beer, counting the hour and half hour.

The Prosit is a BEST SELLER

We at North Coast Imports are destined to make mistakes like anyone else. In our sales literature last year we announced the successful release of our NEW "Prosit" cuckoo clock by Rombach und Haas - model #1389. It has since been a major success with lots of happy customers. Unfortunately, we just found out this week that we got the size wrong in our sales literature. We had it listed as 18" tall, which would have made it grossly disproportionate.

The correct dimensions are about 10" across, 12" up and down (not including the pendulum and weights), and about 8" deep. Again, I apologize for the mistake. Let me assure you that there is no other "taller" clock out there with otherwise the same description. The 12" Prosit is the one-and-only Original Black Forest clock (certified by the VDS) with this description.

Click the picture below for the adjusted dimensions and updated description. By the way, don't forget that some details may change with each clock. These clocks (like all of our timepieces) are all made by hand, and individually, rather than by assembly line. Since these clocks are made much the same as they have been hundreds of years ago, it means that all of the parts are not necessarily interchangeable. Plus, the artist that is building each individual clock may have a change of heart as to the particular color of a flower, or style of a carving. You may find small details in your clock that are different than the description. Embrace this, it means you have something special and unique. It means that your clock was built by a craftsman with tremendous pride in his or her work.