AUTOMATIC WONDER STEINLE'S SANDUSKY CLOCK.

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/5/2022

In 1897 Frank Steinle exhibited an automated clock in the pavilion of a summer resort at Johnson’s Island. Frank Steinle was a German immigrant who settled in Sandusky, Ohio, where he worked as a cooper. It took Mr. Steinle twenty five years to build the clock. The two thousand pound mechanical clock was twelve feet tall and ten feet wide. The cabinet was made of oak and walnut. Mr. Steinle’s daughters stated that he had no plans or diagrams for building the clock, but that he had based it on the Nuremberg clock in Germany. There were five themes on the clock: the races of man, the four periods of life, angels, patriotism, and religion. Figures waved flags on the hour, and angels struck bells on the quarter hour. Dials on the lower half of the clock showed the earth revolving on its axis, the phases of the moon, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, the day of the week, as well as the month, year, and season. A pipe organ inside the clock played popular tunes. According to notes in the historical files at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center, Ferdinand V. Seibert did art work on the face of the clock. This amazing creation should be sitting in a museum, and here it is, complete enough for restoration, and a feat of human ingenuity worth celebrating. CONDITION: Lacking hands and other elements. Not currently in working order, in need of restoration due to not being run since the 1980s.

CORRECTION: Included with this lot is a fabulous painted canvas carnival banner illustrating the completed clock. It reads "The Automatic Wonder. Steinle's Sandusky Clock. Height 12 ft." It measures 109" tall by 97" wide and is signed "Hasselbach & Seibert. Sandusky O."

This is not a standard shippable item and will require 3rd party shipping or pickup arrangements to be made.

Condition: (Good).

Item Dimensions: 117" L x 48 - 1/2" W x 145" H.