These notes compare and contrast our family clock with the one illustrated in "Yorkshire Clockmakers" by Brian Loomes.

1. Hood
Identical in respect of mouldings to scroll crests and central cornice, break arch door and plain round side pillars with brass top and bottom. The only visible difference is the rosettes on the top of the scrolls are slightly different and set a little closer together on our clock.

On our clock, the central cornice has a hole in the top, so there may have been a central finial. There is a 3/8in strip of cross-graining running round the whole of the door, which has a brass knob and is hinged on sheet brass hinges fastened to the top and bottom of the door. The door is fastened with an internal L - hook and staple, accessible through the trunk door, which also secures the hood to the case. It is not clear from the photos whether these features are on the Loomes clock, but I would imagine so.

2. Case
Identical in respect of overall proportions and style, door shape and mouldings between trunk & hood and trunk & plinth. Differences are:

Links to other pages about our Bancroft clock:

Introduction

The Clock as an Heirloom

Researching our Bancroft Clock

Comparison with the Loomes clock

• Ours has no feet. The plinth appears to be some 1.5in shorter than the Loomes clock and has a strip of wood round the base - which may or may not be original.
• Ours has no cross-grain veneer round the edges of the door but instead the front edges of the trunk are chamfered and cross-grained.
• The cross-graining up the front edges of the plinth continues across the top of the plinth. It is not clear from the photo whether this is the case with the Loomes clock.
• Our clock has a pierced brass escutcheon to the keyhole. The original lock appears to be in working order but we don't have a key!

3. Dial
Both dials are strikingly similar in that they are 12in white painted dials with a break arch. The circle and square are picked out by double black lines and the spandrel decorations are simple floral designs. The marking of the secondary dials and the style and positioning of the maker's name is the same.

The main difference is that our clock has no lunar movement, the break arch carrying a floral decoration similar to the spandrels. Small flower decorations also appear on either side of the two subsidiary dials. The style of the hands on our clock is different (but they appear to be mis-matched and it is not clear which one is original). Likewise, there are some differences in the blackwork which also may or may not be original - the minute numerals only appear at the quarter hour points and the minute marks are small dashes rather than dots. And of course, there are the rather clumsily re-painted arabic hour numerals.

See the page on Researching our Bancroft clock for a transcription of the missing blackwork