When the contents of a home built in 1724 that has stayed in the original family for seven generations goes up for auction, you know you have to be there. Among the many incredible things you’ll find at this auction is a tall case clock signed George Rea, Quakertown, 1796. Wow, is this piece amazing!
According to an article in the Watch & Clock Bulletin, a publication of the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, Inc., titled “The Clockmakers of Flemington, NJ: 1788-1840” by David A. Sperling (January/February 2013, Vol. 401, pages 35, 39-40), George Rea was an early clockmaker of Hunterdon County and one of four colonial clockmakers in Flemington; he also made clocks in Princeton, Quakertown and Trenton. Rea started out as an itinerant clockmaker in Flemington but opened a successful clock and watch shop there after 1801.
The NAWCC article points out that Rea’s 1796 Quakertown clock shows “the influence of Bucks County cabinetmakers” through its “tall round fluted central plinth with its pinecone finial along with full dentil molding of the pediment and Greek key molding below the hood.” The 1796 Quakertown tall case clock is the more elaborate of two 1796 clocks Rea crafted.
Rea enjoyed a highly respectable reputation in Flemington, where he served as the town’s first postmaster, then later became Judge of the Court of Common Please. He gave up clockmaking in 1815 when he purchased 86 acres of land, where he farmed and operated a gristmill until his death in 1838. He is buried in a Baptist cemetery in Flemington.
George Rea’s 1796 cherrywood tall case clocks made in Quakertown are part of early Hunterdon County history – and you’ll find one of those clocks in our Sunday, September 23, 2018 auction in Lambertville, NJ (auction starts at 10AM, preview at 8AM). You can see pictures and a listing of some of what we’ll be selling during this two-day auction on September 22 (outbuildings) and September 23 (house items) on my AuctionZip page (Auctioneer ID# 1070). You can also follow me on Facebook and on Instagram (@AlfredsAuctions) for daily updates.