Dad’s mysterious Mantle Clock

I don’t own many family heirlooms, so I have to buy my own at flea markets, antique malls, online auctions and thrift shops.

I am happy, however, to have inherited a few items that belonged to my Dad; this old mantle clock is one of them.  

This Victorian-style, American made mantel clock is from the late 19th century. It is made of wood with black stain, faux marble and brass accents.

As a little girl, it was a thing of mystery as it perched high in our living room; always out of reach and NEVER allowed to be touched. Dad kept something hidden in the clock cavity in an old sock with a knot tied at the end of it. No one knew its contents, and none of us kids dared to cross Dad to solve the mystery ourselves.

I’m not sure where Dad acquired the clock. My mom thinks that it may have belonged to a distant cousin who often sold things to Dad when he was in a jam and needed money. Since it added to the mystery, my little girl self would conjure up stories of how it came to be at our house.

I don’t recall the clock ever working, but that didn’t stop Dad from pulling it off the shelf and tinkering with it every now and then when he had some time on his hands (hehe).

And now Dad’s cherished mantle clock lives at our house and thanks to some wonderful friends who can fix just about anything, it works!

I wish Dad could hear the beautiful cadence of the “tick-tock-tick-tock” throughout the house, and the happy sound that chimes from it on the hour.  If he were here I’d even let him take it down off the shelf and touch it – if he promised to tell me the story about that sock.