The Eric Morton Clock Collection

An impressive collection of nearly 300 longcase and table clocks is to be sold at Tennants Auctioneers, North Yorkshire. The collection was the work of the late Eric Morton (1945-2019) of County Durham, coal miner turned museum taxidermist, and many of the clocks hale from makers in the North East and Yorkshire.

Morton’s interest in antiquarian horology began about forty years ago. He first collected clocks from the local parish of Tanfield, Co. Durham, especially those of John Dobie whose gravestone he found in the Tanfield churchyard. As his interest and knowledge in clocks developed, he extended his collecting to clocks from the North of England and subsequently to other areas of Britain. He loaned several of his clocks to the Time and Place exhibition held at the Science Museum in Oxford, and to exhibitions of North Country Clocks at Tennants Auctioneers. Morton also had a paper published on taper burns found on clocks in the Antiquarian Horology Journal in 2017 and lectured on North Country Clocks at the British Museum.

Highlights of the collection include a rare Musical Longcase Clock, signed Hugh Lough, Penrith, 1773 (estimate: £7,000-9,000 plus buyer’s premium), a rare Year-Going Mahogany Longcase Clock, signed Jno Walker, Newcastle (estimate: £3,000-5,000 plus buyer’s premium), and a George II Ebony Veneered Quarter Chiming Table Clock, signed Jos Green, Northshields, circa 1730 (estimate: £4,000-6,000 plus buyer’s premium).

The first part of the Eric Morton Clock Collection will be offered in the Antiques and Interiors Sale at Tennants Auctioneers on 14^th June. The rest of the collection will be sold in Antiques and Interiors Sales, Country House Sales and Fine Art Sales at Tennants throughout 2019 and 2020.