Clock, Wild & Adams Longton 1901-10

‘Swiss made’

Roy hand-painted this Wild & Adams Longton clock 1901-10

I won another antique porcelain clock off an online auction. It wasn’t expensive I suppose due to it not working and the design of it is too floral and intricate (fussy!) for modern taste. But when I saw it I fell for this beast. (Yes, it’s big, about 40cm wide).

hand-painted roses on the Wild & Adams Longton clock

I adore its curves and colours and flowers. Its workings are Swiss made.

Wild & Adams Longton clock 1901-10

Just think how old this clock is… It was produced between 1901 and 1910, that is before the First World War (1914-18). Meaning it’s seen through two world wars and through to the current Internet Age, being at least 112 years old! The old girl was lucky not to be bombed and shattered to tiny pieces during WW2 or deemed too old and ugly and thrown away in a skip from the 1970s when antiques weren’t as appreciated. And now that minimalism is the thing, she is simply too ornate. But not for me.

Wild & Adams Longton clock bathed in warm golden lamp-light, similar to the glow of the candle-light it must have known.

I cannot find much about the makers, however I found this: Thomas Clarke Wild and Thomas Adams founded the Wild and Adams partnership in (?) in the town of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England. They were known as earthenware manufacturers. On 14th July 1911 as noted in The London Gazette, Adams left the business which Wild took sole charge of, the pottery later becoming a Limited Company in 1923 – Wild & Adams Ltd. I cannot find when their partnership was founded. Credit to http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/1079c.htm

Art Nouveau curves, flowers and fronds

I’ve written this blog post to showcase my new clock to my WordPress friend Ron. Ron collects and restores clocks, you can find his horological WP blog AntiqueVintageClock.com *here*.

And the back of the clock

Thank you for dropping by, I hope you enjoyed viewing my lucky find 🙂

Faith xo

‘Swiss Made’ workings

http://www.thepotteries.org/potters/adams_index.htm Information about the famous potters of England, including the Adams family

.

*

Copyright Faith McCord 2022

Story and artwork belongs to Faith McCord who is the author and artist holding the copyright. This is not a public domain work. Worldwide rights.

Advertisement