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Mystery clock by Robert- Houdin browse these categories for related items... All Items: Antiques:Instruments and Implements:Timepieces:Clocks: Pre 1837 VR: item # 709132 Please refer to our stock # 7741 when inquiring.
Gordon S. Converse and Co. 758 Mancill Rd Wayne, PA 19087 610.722.9004 Guest Book $21,000.00 |
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| Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin (1806- 1871)was a master clockmaker who known for his mystery clocks. He was active in the mid 1800s, and had a double life as an both inventor of remarkable mechanical devices, including his famous mystery clocks, and as one of the first conjurers, or magicians, in history. (In fact, Ehrich Weiss took the name Harry Houdini in the 20th century to honor the famous Robert-Houdin.) This clock was sold by Promolu of Paris, the name inscribed on the dial, it was under the Robert-Houdin aegis that these clocks were designed and presented. The mystery clock functions in telling time while presenting a "mystery" as to how the clock operates. It tells time with the single rotating hour hand to indicate the time. Surprisingly, you can tell time within about 2-3 minutes with such a finely marked dial and hand. The hand is mounted on a very thin glass sandwiched with the dial which is the painted glass and as it rotates,it carries the hand clockwise; yet it seems impossible that there can be source rotating the glass. Houdin deliberately mounted the upper dial section on a slender shafted pedestal so as to further befuddle the viewer, one who knows that the clock is somehow driven from a mechanism in the base, yet cannot figure out how the power is transmitted. RL* | ||||||
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