553.    $500

Seem’s Calendar Dial on a drop octagon clock, ca. 1875.  Josiah K. Seem patented a simple mechanism to add a calendar to any dial by placing calendar disks behind the dial and advancing the day and date with a pin attached to the mainstem or, in this example, to the hour hand.  As the hour hand circles the dial it advances the day-of-the-week disk twice each 24 hours.  In the first 12 hours the weekday advances to the top of the window; when the hour hand comes around 12 hours later it pushes the day to the bottom of the window (the weekday window is just to the right of the mainstem).  The next cycle brings forward the next day.  The weekday disk advances the calendar dates 1-9, which in turn advances the left side of the date wheel to display dates 10-31.  It is quite clever, but you have to reset the date on the first day of each month.  You also have to advance the month (shown above the ‘6’) by hand; there are small rectangular windows outside the date and month disks to allow you to advance them with a pin.  This dial is on what I believe is an Ansonia Drop Octagon, based on the pendulum window glass; the movement is not signed.  There is a label inside, but a Seem Calendar Dial instruction label is pasted over it.  The painted metal dial shows some chipping but is likely original.  The hands are likely also original and correct to the Ansonia model.  The glass in the bezel is recent, the lower glass likely original.  The 8-day time-and-strike movement is running and striking on a wire gong as expected.  Seem calendars are uncommon; I can find only a couple of wall clock examples, both selling for over $500.  We sold a steeple clock example in January for $723.  Seem calendar dials are shown and discussed in both Ly’s Calendar Clocks and Miller and Miller Calendar Clocks.  $500-$750.