Speaking of Clock Peddlers...

Justin just contributed a great post on his new antique clock peddler figurine. I particularly like the porcelain dial on his piece, and the fact that the man is carrying extra pendulums.



The clock peddler is a character that has all but disappeared from our lexicon of memories. Clock peddlers in the Black Forest used to carry their wares on a large backpack.

After toiling the winter months away in a crowded workshop over his wares, a clock peddler greeted warmer months by wandering over the hills and through storybook forests hundreds of years ago, matching painted dials and interesting animated scenes to the customers' choice of mechanisms.



This is a particularly unique example. The figurine above is a new hand-made piece that's still available. Housed inside the hand-carved body is a tiny mechanical mechanism with bellows and a multi-pitch whistle that plays a tune on demand. The mechanism is made by hand in Germany and is completely mechanical without any use of speakers or electronics. These are mechanical-musical instruments.

Rare Early Black Forest peddler Timepiece C. 1850

We just recently added this early Black Forest clock to our collection. This is a Period piece made C. 1850. The peddler has become a symbol for the Black Forest and these clock have been made from 1850 up until present day (with major differences).



Our peddler is made from tin on a fantastic burl wood base and stands 15" tall.

The paint on the figure is original and untouched, with very minor loss.

In his hands he holds a miniature functioning timepiece that is 3" tall. The clock works is a thick brass plate miniature clock work.




This clock has its original "mock" weights... pendulums in hand and "mock" time piece on his back. The dial of the clock on his back lifts up to revel a compartment to hold the key... he even has its original miniature key.

This is the second period peddler timepiece we have owned, we traded our last one off as it had too much repaint for our liking, and he was missing his clock on his back.




This example was purchased by the previous owner while being stationed in Germany during WWII. It has been in a box in storage for over 50 years... and was wrapped in old German newspaper from the time.

We are excited to get a very clean original example of this hard to find BF clock for our collection.