Frederick Wingate of Augusta, Maine. No. 119. A tall case clock. UU-56.
This well-proportioned mixed woods case tall clock was made by Frederick Wingate of Augusta, Maine, circa 1813.
This is a very good example of his work. This case is constructed in several indigenous kinds of wood. The vast majority of which is birch and retains its original red wash. This is a process that was common to clocks of this region. Many speculate that it helped disguise the wood to look more like mahogany. The secondary wood is New England white pine.
The case stands on cutout bracket feet that retain excellent height. They are visually separated from the base section with a simple applied molding. The waist door is rectangular and is trimmed with a molded edge. The sides of the waist section are fitted with turned quarter columns. These are nicely formed, having some shaping and additional ring-turned designs. They terminate in brass quarter capitals. The bonnet features a New England-style pierced and open fretwork pattern. This is a pleasing design. Three period brass finials are mounted on finial plinths. The bonnet columns are smoothly turned and nicely shaped. They are free-standing. They are mounted in brass capitals. The dial is colorfully painted. This dial was most likely painted in Boston. It exhibits many details found in dials painted by Spencer Nolen, who rented shop space from his father-in-law Aaron Willard. This dial is also signed by the clockmaker in script lettering, “Frederic Wingate.” This signature area also includes his working location, “Augusta,” and is numbered “No. 119” on the dial.
The movement is brass, eight-day duration, and is of good quality.
This clock was made circa 1813.
Inventory number UU-56.
Frederick Wingate, silversmith, watch, and clockmaker, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on January 11th, 1782, and died in Augusta, Maine, on November 16th, 1864. His parents were William Wingate (1745-1821) and Mehitable (Bradley) Wingate (1747-1796). He had an older brother, Paine Wingate (1767-1833), who was working in Boston as a clockmaker as early as 1789. Paine may have trained Frederick. Frederick married Hannah Page of Haverhill on January 17th, 1806. In 1814, he served as a soldier during the War of 1812.
Frederick worked as a silversmith, watch, and clockmaker and became one of Maine's most prolific clockmakers. He may have been trained in Massachusetts before he moved north to Augusta, Maine, by 1803. As a clockmaker, he made many tall, banjo, and mirror clocks. Many of the tall clock dials are numbered. Our family has recorded examples from low as number 15 to a high of 302. Frederick trained Benjamin Swan to make clocks in 1808. Swan was from Augusta, and his clocks are often very similar in form. They share similar characteristics, such as the use of contrasting woods. Reoccurring features found on many Augusta clocks are the use of figured maple in the waist door and base panel, unusual turned and often shaped waist and hood columns, and Boston-painted dials painted by Spencer Nolen. A fair number of Wingate clocks retain their original setup labels. If present, these can be found pasted inside the waist door.
