Nathaniel Hazeltine of Danville, Vermont. "No. 2." Tall case clock. 28085.
This cherry case has excellent narrow proportions and decorative inlay work. The case stands on an applied bracket base. The four feet are slightly splayed and, as a result, are three-dimensionally formed. They have excellent height. The base panel is line inlaid. The line inlay combines light maple and a contrasting darker line. In the center is a patera. This design element is repeated in the waist door. The waist section is long and narrow. The rectangular waist door is also lined inlaid. Through this, one can access the weights and pendulum. The sides of the waist are fitted with fluted quarter columns. These terminate in brass quarter capitals. The hood or bonnet features a traditional New England style fretwork. This is supported by three inlaid final plinths. They are capped at the top and are surmounted by ball and spike brass finials. The bonnet columns are smoothly turned and fluted. The lower sections have been stopped with inlays. These flank the arch bonnet door. This door is also inlaid and fitted with glass.
The painted iron dial is not signed. The time ring is formatted with Roman numeral hour markers. Arabic numerals are used as the five-minute markers. This dial also displays the date of the month calendar and the seconds on a subsidiary dial. In the arch is a lunar calendar or a moon phase mechanism. Each of the four spandrel areas is colorfully decorated with geometric patterns. This dial is in very nice condition.
The time and strike movement is of good quality and is designed to run for eight days on a full wind. It is constructed in brass. The teeth in the gear train are deeply cut. It is weight-driven or weight-powered. This clock strikes the hours on a cast iron bell. It is good quality. It is interesting to note that the back plate is elaborately engraved ‘No 2. N. Hazeltine.” We have seen this practice on the many tall case clocks signed by John Osgood of Haverhill, New Hampshire. Interestingly, most of the Osgoods have been recently recorded with numbers in the three hundreds. In addition, the strike work is designed in the Osgood manner. The levers are nicely shaped and distinctive. This is also true of many Osgood-signed clocks. As a result, one can speculate that Hazeltine and Osgood had some sort of working relationship. The movements are very similar.
This clock was made circa 1815.
The case stands approximately 8 feet 2 inches tall or 98 inches tall overall.
Inventory number 28085.
Nathaniel Hazeltine was born in Fryeburg, Maine, on June 30, 1784. His parents were Barnes and Sarah (Webster) Hazeltine. Nathaniel had a brother, Enoch (b Jan. 29.1788 – d. February 1, 1873, in New Bedford, MA.) The family moved to Danville, Vermont, between 1803 and 1808. An article in the Friday, June 2, 1876 issue of a Danville newspaper, The North Star, states that “Samuel Parker was engaged in making large Brass clocks; Nath'l Hazeltine was engaged at watchwork” in the years 1807-8-9 in Danville. Enoch became a cabinetmaker, an ardent anti-Mason, a temperance man, and an original abolitionist. Daniel married Caroline Moore in Danville on November 19, 1811; she died between July 3, 1818, and December 5, 1819. Daniel remarried to Miriam Hoyt on December 5, 1819. Nathaniel Hazeltine is shown as a clockmaker in the 1850 Danville census. A brief reference can be found in Vermont Clock and Watchmakers Silversmiths and Jewelers 1778 - 1878, written by Lillian Baker Carlisle, which lists him as working in 1856. A reference from Walton’s Register in 1856 and until 1858 lists him as a “manufacturer of watches and jewelry.” As luck would have it, Eaton’s Auction Service in Vermont recently discovered and sold a watch paper on 10/18/2008. The paper reads, “Nathl Hazeltine Clock, Watch, Maker. Danville, Vermont.” On the back, it is dated “1816, May 31. M??? Waddock (sp?) 1817 February, 23.” In 1870, Daniel was boarding in the Danville household of the Canadian-born farmer Alexander Russello, where Martha Hazeltine worked as a housekeeper. Nathaniel Hazeltine died in Danville on April 7, 1871.
