More on the Clock

I have been corresponding with Gail Fitch, author of several books on Hartland Collectibles. In fact, in her new book just coming out, there is a picture of one of my pieces. Years ago I won a drawing that the company was holding and received a piece of which only 5 had been made. She contacted me and asked for photos and if she could include it in her book.

To my surprise, she wrote that she had never found a Hartland clock at an antique shop or flea market. I knew I'd found something special, but the more I know, the more I realize just how lucky I was! I asked her for her take on the differences between the Breyer and the Hartland clocks. Our email correspondence follows.

Lynn,

The white horse standing OVER the clock is a Hartland whether the mane is on the left or right. Breyer horses stand with the clock under their nose.

There are other differences, but that is the simplest point.

After my 2000 book came out, a small clique took the brand-mark information I had published, found Hartland’s Diamond-I mark on the clock bases, and started writing on the Internet. I was accused of lying. They were saying that Breyer made the clock horses first.

In my books since 1983, I only said what the several elderly Hartland executives told me: That Hartland made the clock horses first, and Breyer made clock horses second, and that Hartland horses stood OVER the clock.

What had happened, but didn’t come out until 2004, was that someone – not anyone you mentioned – had, about 1999, found a 1949 clock horse ad. They did not share that with me, but shared it with the small clique. The person believed it was a Breyer, and that if Breyer had made the clock horses in 1949, they believed Breyer had made the clocks before Hartland. The clique was saying that on a web site.

Then, in 2004, an article from a 1950 vintage toy magazine appeared on eBay. I saw it. The horse pictured was labeled Hartland in the caption, and it matched the horse in the 1949 clock ad.  Members of the clique compared the two items, but did not include me in the deliberations. Then, they trumpeted their finding, which reversed their previous position, which had been that Breyer made the horses first.

Well, bless their hearts! The two pieces of documentation they found, put together, supported what I’d been publishing all along: That Hartland made clock horses in the 1940s (and before Breyer). I never got an apology from any of them.

A detail I didn’t know was that Hartland had made both right-mane and left-mane Champs on clocks. Hartland apparently never sold the left-mane Champs off the clock, and they never appeared in a Hartland catalog. It’s another Hartland mold, not a Breyer! Hooray!

Marney had claimed the left-mane Champs on clocks as Breyers, at least as early as the 1980s, and everyone just went along with that, including all of the Breyer authors, for decades until the clique’s mid-2004 announcement. When Breyer collectors gave me their clock pictures, I included them in my 1995 newsletter and in my 1999 book. I knew that clocks under the chin of the horse were Breyers. It should have been obvious that any horse OVER the clock was by Hartland, regardless.

I printed a “correction” (for the caption in my 1999 book) in one of my newsletters (about 2005), but I realize not everyone gets my newsletter. I’ll have a lot of new research in my next book on vintage Hartlands.

****

What you paid for your clock is about what I would expect.

I would love to include its picture(s) in a future book. Do you have pictures that are 4” by 6” proportions and at least 1,500 x 2,000 (or more) pixels?

Thanks,

Gail Fitch

From: Lynn Isenbarger [mailto:lisenbarger8@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2012 2:34 PM
To: Gail Fitch
Subject: Re: Hartland Clock

I don't mind you asking at all. It was marked $95 and they gave me a 10% discount when I asked. Add in Indiana taxes, and I paid $91.49.

I am thrilled to have found it, although at first I thought it was a Breyer. I did some online research on Breyer clocks and came across Mike Jackson's website. He, Sande Schneider, Sheryl Leisure, and some other hobbyists took some time to see if they could figure out how to tell the difference between a Breyer and a Hartland clock. I read their account and how they say to tell the difference, and that's when I realized I had a Hartland and not a Breyer.

Although, I am curious if you agree that it is the diamond conchos and the flat angle front hooves that are the clues that this is a Hartland clock. Do you mind sharing your opinion?

Lynn,

I have my own way of describing the differences between the Hartlands and Breyers.  

People get off on tangents sometimes.
Gail

From: Gail Fitch <gfitch@tds.net>
To: 'Lynn Isenbarger' <lisenbarger8@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 5, 2012 3:07 PM
Subject: RE: Hartland Clock

Hi Lynn,

These clocks are lovely to see.
I have never found one at a flea market or antique mall either. It is almost strange.

If I may ask, what did you pay for it?

Gail

From: Lynn Isenbarger [mailto:lisenbarger8@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2012 12:18 PM
To: Gail Fitch
Subject: Re: Hartland Clock

Here are the pictures! I consider myself so lucky - I've been collecting since 1963, but this is the first one I have ever found at a flea market or antique shop. :)

Thanks for the values!

Lynn

  ~o
_'\<,_
(*)/ (*) I'd rather be biking!

---

From: Gail Fitch <gfitch@tds.net>
To: 'Lynn Isenbarger' <lisenbarger8@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, July 4, 2012 1:36 PM
Subject: RE: Hartland Clock

Hi Lynn,

How neat that you found a Hartland clock!

My 1999 book says $100-$150, depending on condition.

Values on most collectibles, including Hartlands and Breyers have dropped since 1999, but for the clocks, I still recommend those numbers.

I’d love to see pictures!

Gail

From: Lynn Isenbarger [mailto:lisenbarger8@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2012 10:01 AM
To: gfitch@tds.net
Subject: Hartland Clock

Hi, Gail,

I found a Hartland clock this week at an antique shop. (I am certain it is a Hartland and not a Breyer due to the diamond shaped conchos on the bridle and the straight hooves.) I was wondering if you could help me put a value on it? I have no plans to sell it, but I do want to know for possible insurance. If so, I will send some pictures of it.

So thrilled to have found one!

Thanks!
Lynn Isenbarger

  ~o
_'\<,_
(*)/ (*) I'd rather be biking!

Mastercraft Clocks

(from Breyer History Diva, 2009)

Let's begin with this beautiful little wreck I found at the flea market last week: a MasterCrafters Swinger!


(Photo lightened somewhat to show the detail - the clock doesn't actually look like it's molded out of chocolate, in person.)

They’re known as "Swinger" clocks because they have a figurine attached to a pendulum mechanism that would swing back and forth. Most of them - including this one - had a girl on a swing, but some have both a boy and a girl, or a bird on a perch. Someone swiped the figurine from this particular example, which partly explains why I was able to snag it for a mere 5 bucks. (It was also dirty, greasy, cracked, and covered in duct tape.)

Most collectors know that Breyer’s first horse was designed as a component for a clock manufactured by the MasterCrafters Clock Company. Mike Jackson, at his Hartland History web site Hartland Westerns, goes into the history of the MasterCrafters Horse Clocks, and there’s no need to duplicate the effort here. (I have a few quibbles with it, but I’m in no mood to start a catfight over tone or details.)

Lesser known is the fact that Breyer made more than just the horse for MasterCrafters. It’s been difficult to track down which parts, and for which clocks precisely: the records (as always) are virtually nonexistent. So far only one clock - one that I discussed in one of my first posts - bears what appears to be an early Breyer mold mark. The clock in question:


It’s possible that the plastic components of the Swinger Clock were also manufactured by Breyer. Nancy Young notes in Breyer Molds & Modelsthat Steve Ryan, during his brief tenure at Reeves in the early 1990s, claimed that Breyer molded those components, but in a footnote comments that Hartland expert Gail Fitch believes Hartland did. I took the opportunity of having a trashed and partially disassembled Swinger Clock to see if I could find any physical evidence one way or another.

Nothing. I found neither Hartland’s Iolite mark nor Breyer’s wavy-ribbon mark. The clock had been messed with before, so it’s possible something was lost or somewhere along the way. It’s also possible that I’m not looking in the right places, that my eyesight is shot, or that it never received any recognizable mold stamps in the first place.

It didn’t hurt to look; it was only a five dollar investment, and I had a fun afternoon disassembling, cleaning and repairing it, at least. (It’s my favorite part of the flea market process!) Once I’m finished repairing and rewiring it, I’ll probably stick something in the empty space left by the missing Swinger. But should it be a Stablemate, or a Tinymite? Decisions, decisions…