Gilders Workshop of Winchester, Massachusetts.

Gilders Workshop. Ted and Fran Burleigh, Winchester, Massachusetts.

The Gilders Workshop was located in Winchester, Massachusetts, and opened in 1972. The husband and wife team of Ted and Fran Burleigh were the principals. That year they produced 12 banjo clocks. Before 1975 they were primarily doing restoration and gilding work. Clock production didn't take off until Elmer Stennes died in 1975. The Burleighs did gilding work for Stennes in the end. Their work was excellent.

Ted was the frontman. He was also involved with the carving of various decorative elements and the preparation of the cases for gold leaf where expected. He did the finishing the mahogany cases. He was also responsible for the assembly of the clocks. Components came in from various sources and he assembled and completed the clocks.

Ted's wife, Fran, did the gilding of the decorative wooden components. She trained under Boston's master gilder, Nils Johnson. She learned both water and oil gilding, traditional techniques that made the Burleigh clocks so beautiful. Fran may have been best known for her skill in reverse glass painting and restoration. She was an exceptional artist and a very talented instructor. Fran trained at least three other artists to do reverse painting on glass. All three became very proficient in this skill. Their daughter Cindy worked with them until she married. Ann Banister was working there almost the entire time. Linda Abrams started in 1975 and worked there for approximately four years. After that time, she struck out on her own and continues to do very high-quality work. She is sought out by the most discerning of clientele.

The Burleigh clock dials were painted by Martha Smallwood. This is often helpful in dating an example because she had a habit of pasting a sticker on the back of her dials that dated when they were completed.

The cases were made by Chuck England. He started making cases for them in 1973 and continued to do so until the last run of banjo clocks was made in 1989.

The movements were supplied by Kilbourne & Proctor.

The first clocks were timepieces or banjo clocks. There were four versions. The gilded versions were closely patterned after those made by Lemuel Curtis in Concord, MA before 1820. It is not currently known to me how many banjo clocks they made. In 1981, they were priced at $1,100.

The opportunity to copy a Lemuel Curtis Girandole presented itself in 1973. Ted copied the example now on loan at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. That clock is very well known and is often pictured. It features a wedding scene in the lower glass. It appears that they made 50 of these. In 1981, they were selling for $3,000. This was their most expensive model. You could also order this clock with a thermometer in the waist glass as a special order.

In 1980, the Burleighs copied the Aaron Willard Grafton Wall Clock that is in the collection of Sturbridge Village. They modified the movement of their clock to run for 8 days instead of the original format of 30 hours. The case design is faithful to the original. They made 50 of these clocks which they priced at $2,700.