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Eli Terry Senior
Born April 13, 1772
Died February 24, 1852

ELI TERRY’S famous shelf clock, when introduced in 1814-1816, retailed at $15, according to Chauncey Jerome. What was $15 of that day equivalent to, in terms of money today?
Hard money then was used only to make change.

Business was conducted upon long term credits or promises to pay. Retail trade was on a swap or barter basis. Consequently, the answer to the question depends upon whether the clock was paid for by days labour or given in exchange for some commodity such as a bushel of grain, so many dozen eggs or pounds of butter.

Fine brass tall clocks were so expensive in the 18th Century that the possession of a fine piece was not only a mark of distinction, but proof positive of great affluence that is the tradition.

Colonial Furniture of New England’ (pub. 1891) by

Dr. Irving Whitall Lyons of Hartford, Conn. contained values of clocks compiled from inventories, wills and public sales,

these were 8-day brass tall clocks mostly of English origin.

Prices ranged around £20 in Connecticut between 1700 and 1715, in 1732 around £35, in 1738 over £40, and in 1748 around £120.

Thomas Perry, a New York City clockmaker at the Sign of the Dial at Hanover Square, advertised in the New York Mercury January 3, 1757 that “. . . he will import, if Bespoken, good warranted clocks at £14, they (the customers) paying the freight and insurance; and also clocks without cases for £10″.

James Harrison was one of the early clock makers of Waterbury (Ct.) having started in business in 1790. According to his account books, his first clock, he sold to Major Morris on January 1, 1791 for £3-2s-0d his second to The Rt Rev. Mark Leavenworth, and the third to Capt Samuel Judd for £4.

This was according to Anderson’s History of Waterbury Ct.

It was customary for a buyer to order a fine brass clock from a master clockmaker and then have a cabinet maker produce the case in the style and fashion to fit the desires of the owner.

After the Revolution the base price of a plain mahogany case was around £11, whilst ornamentation and elaborate carved details might double that price.

There was published in 1795, “The Journey Mans Cabinet and Chairmakers Philadelphia Book of Prices” in which there is set forth the cost of clock cases.

This schedule is shown in The Old Clock Book by Moore.

The Willards worked in Massachusetts from 1780 to 1839 making all types of fine brass movement clocks. Steeple clocks with one dial were $500; two dials $600; three dials $700; and four dials $900.
An 8-day brass tall clock including a mahogany case was from $50 to $60, and the one-year tall clock with case $100. Chime clocks, playing 6 tunes, $120. The 30-hour time piece (banjo) clock $10. Gallery clocks for inside use in meeting houses were $55.

Henry Terry, son of Eli (Senior) in the Waterbury American of June 10, 1853 wrote that in 1790-1800 a wooden movement for a tall clock, without case but with painted wooden dial, sold for £4 ($13.33); with brass dial $25. The 8-day brass tall clock movement, without case, sold from £10 to £15 (or $33.33 to $50).

The complete wooden tall clock movement, with case, would range between $18 and $48; while the brass movement with case $38 to $60 or more.

Between 1795 and 1810 Eli Terry of Plymouth was making, one at a time, 30-hour wooden movements for tall clocks, and personally peddling these movements, retailing them for $25 without cases.

After 1810 when competition became acute amongst the many Connecticut makers, prices of movements declined to $10; and in some isolated instances clock movements sold as low as $5.

Gideon Roberts, of Bristol, between 1800-1813 sold his 30-hour tall clock wooden movement for $25, without case.

Figures for 1810 showing the number of wooden clock movements made in Connecticut gives an average value of $7 to $10 for 30-hour wooden movements for tall clocks without cases.

Account books of Samuel Terry show that he was making parts for 30-hour wood Movements and putting clock movements in cases, etc. for Eli Terry and other clockmakers.

Occasionally Samuel bought movements, and put them in cases presumably selling a completed clock. Proof that the old fashioned 8-day wooden movement for tall clocks were still being made, or at least there was some demand for them is found in these entries in Samuel’s Account Books

1820 April 1… eight-day clock …..$ 4.00
1820 Dec. 8 …to one patent.. two eight day clocks ..$19.50

Other entries in Samuel’s books reveal that 30-hour patent clock movements without cases were valued at $6 each while with the case at $10 each or $4 for the case.
These were presumably Pillar & Scroll cases, at this time at the height of their popularity.

To put 46 clock movements into cases Samuel charged 11 cents each or $5.06. According to numerous entries of wages paid his skilled labour a day’s pay in the period 1820-22 averaged $1.21.

In those days according to his books Samuel was paying $1.17 a month for the hire of a horse, 50 cents a bushel for rye, 6 cents a bushel for corn and 25 cents a gallon for good old New England rum!

In his autobiography Chauncey Jerome wrote that during the winter of 1812 he (Jerome) built tall clock cases in Morristown,

N. J. and these cases without movements retailed for $20 making a complete 30-hour wooden tall clock cost between $40 and $50 retail.

Jerome’s famous Bronze Looking Glass clock retailed for $17 when introduced after 1824. However, by the time the peddlers got these two clocks to the frontiers west of the mountains, the retail prices were $50, $75, $100 or “all the traffic could bear” according to Jerome.

Jerome bought the 30-hour wooden movements from Terry, made cases and peddled these clocks. In 1818 he sold 12 clocks boxed for shipment for $12 each in 1819 he peddled clocks door to door in Wethersfield, Conn., for $18 in 1824 he sold 200 clocks door-to-door in Boston at $16 each. Incidentally, the archives show that these Terry 30-hour wooden movements, without cases, had a value of between $4 and $6 and were bartered in lieu of cash in Connecticut.

The Terry Patent Clock with the Pillar & Scroll case was a recognized medium of exchange. Jerome sold his house in Plymouth, worth $600, to Eli Terry, taking in payment 100 movements; and in 1821 bought a fine house and 17 acres in Bristol, for 214 Terry Patent Clocks valued at $15 each.

Eli Terry in his patent suit against Seth Thomas named $15

as the then value of his Patent Clocks.

In 1818-20 Joseph Ives of Bristol, Conn. built a series of 8-day iron and brass movement wall clocks with long pendulums which were valued at $66 each. Jerome records that between 1834 and 1840 fine 8-day rolled brass shelf clocks were worth around $20 each.

Goldsmith Chandlee (1731-1821) was one of the Six Quaker Clock-makers of Pennsylvania described in a book by that name published 1943 by E. E. Chandlee, a descendant.

Goldsmith Chandlee finally located in Winchester, Va. where he died and on April 19, 1821 his household goods, clock making tools and effects were sold at auction.

Following are the prices of some of his clocks:

1 clock without case $32.00;

1 clock, mahogany case $61.00;

1 clock, walnut case $40.50;

1 clock without case $27.00;

1 clock, walnut case $20.00;

1 clock $6.80.

In his History of the Brass Industry, W. G. Lathrop wrote ” the use of interchangeable parts (mass production), etc. lowered the prices of brass clocks to $20 in 1825 and to $6 before 1840. But the reduction did not stop there, for in 1855 clocks were manufactured to sell as low as 75 cents.”

Chauncey Jerome in discussing the cost (1845-1855) of making clocks wrote in his autobiography that an O. G. clock case which a cabinet maker could not turn out for five dollars, when put into mass production cost 25 cents for the labour and less than 50 cents for all costs.

The dial cost less than 5cents. The tablets printed, and colour put on afterwards by girls, cost less than 11/2 cents. The cost of the glass and work about 4 cents. The cost of iron weights were 13 cents (for 2) per clock. The cost of boxing clocks 10 cents. The movement of a 30-hour brass clock less than 50 cents.

There are so many economic factors involved that it is not possible to figure exactly what $15 in labour cash or goods paid for a Terry Patent Clock during the period 1815-1820 would be equivalent to in the purchasing power of present day dollars.

However, some comparative idea may be obtained from the price studies made by the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Burlington, Vt. based on prices paid by Vermont farmers for goods and services and received by them for farm products each year 1790-1940. The period 1910-1914 was used as 100 in the Index numbers established.

Wages paid by Vermont farmers 1814-1820 for labour including board, averaged from 65 cents to 75 cents a day or from $10 to $13 on a monthly basis.

Assuming that he was paid half of his wages in cash which is doubtful, then the Vermont farm labourer would have had to work at least 3 months to have bought a Terry Patent Clock for $15.

The Vermont physicians in the period 1814-1820 averaged 30 cents per patient for a visit to the office, 45 cents for a visit to a patient’s home if in the village and 95 cents if the patient’s home was 5 miles in the country. The fee for delivering a baby ranged from the low in 1814 of $2 to a high in 1820 of $3.
So if the Doctor bought a Terry Patent Clock for his office it would represent the office visits of 50 patients or between 5 and 8 babies delivered. That is assuming his patients paid “cash” which they did not.

The Doctor like others had to accept eggs, butter, cheese, grain and livestock, and occasionally a few silver coins. If the Vermont farmer bought a Terry Patent clock at $15 and gave in exchange goods or farm products here is the range of prices such things brought in the period 1814-1820…

Eggs brought 12 to 16 cents a dozen,
Oats 44 to 62 cents a bushel,
Cheese 9 cents a pound,
Corn 75 cents to $1.40 a bushel,
Potatoes 28 to 38 cents a bushel.
The blacksmith charged $1.40 for four shoes for a horse.
The merchant got 40 cents a yard for cotton cloth.
The shoemaker paid $4.25 for enough leather for a pair of boots.

In the foregoing the figures are average annual prices in dollars or cents, not weighted prices or index numbers.

This Bulletin of the University of Vermont has established a set of Index figures making possible relative comparisons of the cost of living in the period from 1790 year by year to date.

From Table 7-page 22-the following comparison is made showing Index Numbers of Prices paid by Vermont farmers for commodities and services

(1910-1914 equals 100).

Year    Commodities    Services

1814           238                71

1815           214                65

1816           193                68

1817           182                66

1818           174                66

1819           174                64

1820           160                63

1934           120              195

1935           127              199

1936           125               202

1937           134               202

1938           122               206

1939           120               210

1940           124               211

This tabulation indicates that the labourer in 1814 to 1820 could purchase with his wages about one third of what the labourer could purchase with his wages in the period 1934-1940.

On the other hand those with commodities to sell could buy about twice as much during the period 1814-1820 as those with commodities to sell during
1934 -1940.

It is a fact that the Yankee clock pedlars, in order to retail their Connecticut clocks, were anxious and willing to accept in payment farm produce and goods in the absence of “hard money” on the frontiers. Consequently, the buyers were getting Terry Patent Clocks at relatively low prices since what the buyer had to barter in exchange for the clock brought a high price; but much depended upon his being a shrewd trader.

Since goods were in high demand as the Price Index proves, the Yankee pedlars in turn could sell to advantage, what they had accepted in payment for their clocks.

Unfortunately, there are no Index figures showing the wages of skilled labour, craftsmen, artisans, or even common labour comparable to these Vermont farm figures even for the states of Vermont where there was very little industry. Further, the situation in those days varied from state to state with respect to the relation between total income from agricultural activities and income from industrial activities.

However, there is very little question but that the individual who had nothing to sell save a day’s labour, was not so well off as the wage earner of present times. Further, the storekeeper, the farmer, the manufacturer of goods and produce were better off than even the skilled labourer of those days.

It must not be overlooked, however, that since the storekeeper and the manufacturer were large buyers of commodities and goods, their advantage as sellers might have been wiped out by their disadvantages of also being at the same time big buyers.

Another factor which cannot be overlooked is that there was then a fluctuating rate of exchange in the value of dollars of Connecticut in relation to the dollars of North Carolina, of the Virginias, of Pennsylvania, of  New York; and this fluctuation of the rate of exchange of dollars varied between these several states.

While this statistical data affords some relative idea of what the Terry Patent Clock at $15 retail represented then compared with the dollar of today, yet the answer is as unsatisfactory as it is inconclusive.

Clocks, Tools & Parts for Sale…

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