Jim Stovall 1796 Virginia Tall Case Clock

Jim Stovall 1796 Virginia Tall Case Clock
Our consignor got this clock in Virginia decades ago and felt this was a rare and special clock due to the maker name. Initial stories were that it was made or modified by a runaway slave / slave artisan. His description and research follow. Virginia Tall Case Clock signed "Jim Stovall Cumberland Co., Virginia" in a dated 1796 walnut case with height approx 89" with 11" D x 20.5" W at base. Running 8 Day movement with cast pewter spandrels with faint traces of gold paint and a pewter chapter ring. Brass hands are bell shaped. A primitive clock with unusual front and rear hammered steel plate movement. brass sheets wrapped around the wood winding drums. Both weights are solid cast lead. Dial is either steel or iron sheet and painted gold in the front to imitate brass. The pivot points for the Escape Gear pinion were intentionally canted front to back but it still runs. The American Walnut case maker may have had an English background due to the "Queen Ann Arched Style Hood." The "Banded Edge" on the waist door with "Book Matched Veneered Interior" are indicative of 1750s English Clocks. The Side walls are slightly thinner than most and the overlap joints are exposed in the front instead of the sides; the secondary wood pieces are "American Heart Pine." The consignor's research leads him to believe Jim Stovall of Cumberland Co, VA had been a slave / slave artisan and was a "rough carpenter and course shoemaker" (from the run-away advertisement in the Norfolk Herald, 23 October, 1798 - in the MESDA craftsman database). Book Ref. "Clockmakers & Watchmakers of America" by Sonya & Tom Spittler & Chris Bailey, p. 387. Selling without any guarantee of authentication.
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