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Time Ran Out On Vintage Clock

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By JAY MOORE

Tribune correspondent

Published: March 1, 2009

I own an electric clock with a figure of Franklin D. Roosevelt standing at a ship's wheel that is inscribed on the base "At the Wheel for a New Deal." I inherited it from my father. It no longer works. What is it worth?

M.F.

Tampa

The New Deal was the tag that President Franklin D. Roosevelt hung on his plan to revive the economy during the Great Depression. His strategy was in place from 1933 to 1938.

This electric clock was manufactured in the mid-1930s by the Gibraltar Clock Co. of Jersey City, N.J. The company specialized in cheesy clocks made of cast pot metal.

This clock would retail for about $50 or about $120 after repair.

What can you tell me about my large metal vase that was purchased at an auction? The auction was for the estate of the archbishop of St. Paul, Minn.

Tampa

It is a large cloisonne or champleve vase made in Asia around the turn of the 20th century. Cloisonne is a very early technique involving soldering metal strips in an outline to a metal surface, and filling the spaces, called cloisonne with enamel. It mostly was popular in China and Japan.

Champleve involves a similar technique, but the metal surface is cut into and the depressions filled with enamel. Champleve has a greater irregularity in the width of the metal lines.

Some experts credit the Byzantine Empire with the development of cloisonne during the 10th century. Others say that it was developed in the Near East and then spread to the Byzantine Empire in the 12th century. Who knows?

This large 20th-century vase with elephant-shaped handles actually is most likely champleve. It would retail for about $75.

Have a question about antiques? E-mail a complete description with a clear, high-resolution digital image in .jpg format to baylife@tampatrib.com. Include a name, address and daytime phone number. Regular mail can be sent with clear photographs (not compu

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