From collection Furniture
Tall clock
Willet Hicks was a Quaker, watchmaker, merchant, and friend to Thomas Paine (1761–1835). Born to Westbury Quakers, Hicks trained as a clockmaker before moving to Manhattan and amassing great wealth and notoriety as a dry-goods seller and Quaker preacher. The outdated style and rough construction of the clock's wooden case indicate a rural origin for the piece rather than an urban one. An unknown local joiner, probably from the Hempstead area, likely made the case to house the movement created and assembled by Hicks. A pencil inscription behind the hood door suggests the clock descended in the Albertson family, Quakers from the Westbury-Hempstead area.
Details
Tall clock
circa 1785
87 x 12 x 8 in.
Eight-day tall-case clock with brass dial, iron spandrels, and engraved numerals with black enamel; signed "Willet Hicks/Long Island" on dial face; cherry case with arched detachable hood with glass door, pedestal base, oak secondary wood; brass and iron movement, possibly English and American; with two lead weights and detached brass and lead pendulum.
Engraved on dial face: "Willet Hicks/Long Island"
2019.1a-k
Preservation Long Island purchase
