Bucks
Leonard Marschark Clockmaker
Dear Friends,
Good morning. “My grandfather’s clock was too tall for the shelf so it stood ninety years on the floor,” the famous song begins. “But it stopped, short, never to go again, when the old man died,” the chorus ends.
“Before that song was written around 1875, tall clocks had gone out of style,” Leonard Marschark, a famous Bedminster Township clock maker told me. “That song restored tall clocks to high demand.” It also changed the name of the clocks. “Grandfather clocks” replaced “tall clocks.”
I spent a morning with the clock maker after Mighty Betsy’s cardiologist talked about him. “Marschark’s an international celebrity,” Dr. Samuel Gambier told my better half. “He’s one of only a few who makes exquisite tall clocks in America.”
Marschark is quick to point out that his 18th Century clocks are not reproductions. “A reproduction implies that it’s massed produced,” he explained. “My clocks are recreations and adaptations. Every part of the clock is original.”
He displays eight, different, hand made clocks in his living room. Marschark talked about his beautiful walnut tall clock. “Every clock I make is from the log,” he said. Modeled after an original Peter Solliday clock, it’s made from a walnut tree that Marschark cut down in Bedminster. Like Marschark, Solliday was from Bedminster, only 200 years earlier.
In his basement shop, I saw him making his 118th, 119th, and 120th tall clocks. Marschark uses museum drawings and measurements to build his clocks.
His pretty wife, Eve, is an excellent wood carver, a hobby that she’s adopted. “Eve makes all of my carvings, rosettes and finials,” Marschark continued. He’s very proud of her. “Eve has a Ph. D in psychology, and she specializes in animal behavior,” he added. She uses a knife and chisel to make intricate carvings. “Eve’s an extremely high achiever,” Marschark told me. “She’ll become the best that there is.”
I plan to interview her some day.
He explained why the eight living room clocks are set on different times, even though all of them keep perfect time. “Our bedroom is right above the living room,” he laughed. “I stagger the clocks so they don’t all ring at once.” Eve must set the rules, just as Mighty Betsy Meredith does.
“Listen quietly to the sounds of the tick-tock,” Marschark said quietly. “The sound of the tick-tock is a more interesting sound. After all, you only hear the chimes once every hour.”
He travels throughout the United
States to shows, about four or five each year. “I do a show here in Bedminster
once every year,” he said. Be sure to save this year’s date, September 8.
You’ll need an invitation to attend, so just call Marschark at
It takes six weeks of continuous labor to build an elaborate clock, he told me. “I work full time on clocks,” Marschark said. “There’re only a few of us in America who do nothing but clocks.” In 2006, he built 14 clocks. They ranged in price from $7,500 for simpler designs, to $17,000 for more elaborate designs.
In his living room, he displays two dwarf clocks, so called because they look exactly like tall clocks, though much smaller. One was a recreative clock and the other, an adaptation. “They are identical except for the wood, the paint, and the dial,” he said. One was painted in the style of “school girl art.” Betsy Salm was the artisan. She is the leading authority on School Girl Art in America, Marschark said.
He makes an excellent case for buying a hand made recreative tall clock rather than acquiring an antique. “Original [antique] clocks can cost well over $100,000,” he observed. “Why not [have me] build your own original clock, exclusively created for you. Because it’s personalized, it will be passed down through the generations.”
I was impressed with how he matches the wood grains on the three sides of the clock. Marschark was working on a cherry case. It was gorgeous. He pointed to several of his clocks whose faces were personalized with scenes, exclusive to an individual family. “The [tall] clock links one generation with the next,” Marschark said. “That’s my message. That’s why the clock is the most important piece of furniture in the house.”
Marschark is a very busy fellow in high demand. He has a 14 to 24 month backlog. So, if you want to have your family remembered by a handsome, hand made Grandfather’s clock, it’s best to contact him soon. His website is www.18thcenturyclocks.com or call him at 215-795- 0375.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith