"And like smoke through a keyhole, it was gone "

Quality always sells its a fact !

Some sell quickly some take a while others well the just hand around like an annoying Uncle at a family wedding .
The olden days of selling item off the top of the car as you where pulling into the car park of the showroom have long gone as the Old boys are no longer with us these guys know your routine and if the didn't you'd drop them the wink to let them know what you had and roughly what time you'll be home and just like magic they'd be there on you'r doorstep before you where , these days its all so much more civilized you put your item in the showroom a customer walks past they'd buy it , you deliver it , then all's well with the world .

You can imagine my surprise while setting up a  Llanrwst Watkin Owen Clock when a customer walks inoff the street and says I'll take it , No haggling  , No discount , Just a solid I'll take it , well it wasn't because it sold far from it as I said quality always does and this clock was quality but the speed of which it sold . I hadn't managed to put the hood on it and it was on its way back out of the door  .

It might have been the beautiful colour of the locally grown Oak that was used by the craftsman to create a stunning case its glow when touched by the warmth of the sun was fantastic .

It might have been the wonderful Dial by James Wilson of Birmingham with Birds of paradise flanking the matching diamond cut fingers and corner panels of detailed fruits and flowers .

It might have been the quality of the Owen works its interlocking lifting mechanism being perfected over years of experimenting .

Personally I think it was a Quality piece that was sold with a wonderful guarantee by some one who truly  loves what he does .

In and out in under 5 minutes we like that :)

                                       Watkin Owen Llanrwst Long Case Clock Circa 1795 . (SOLD )

" Tell me officer in your own words ......."

We do get some pieces in for restoration that even confuse us on ho they managed to get into the state there in when they arrive .
Take for instance the Regency Mahogany Triple Chair Back Settee Circa 1815 below .

Its not often we see this kind of damaged , the last time I saw a joint like this it was on the mother in-laws kitchen table trying to pass itself off as Sunday Lunch .

The damage to our surprise was not to just the one side but both front leg joints where blown

Now having seen the damage it was time to find out what the cause was so we can fix the problem .
The owner informed us that she had in her words "Had a go myself ! " with a LITTLE bit of glue so first things first the old glue had to be removed now there are many tricks of the trade on how to do this but we usually stay with the same on ......... Nope we can't tell or you'll all know our secret :)
As you can see from the pictures below a wave of a wand a that magic fairy dust we have in abundance really does work wonders .

Now the moral of this story is if you have a broken piece of furniture and a tube of Youhoo Glue please throw the glue in the bin and take the piece to someone who knows what there doing . :)

P.S The damage to the joints was caused by a lose arm and extra material being added over the original seat covering packing out the seat recess forcing the joints to splay the combined with the arm not being secure put pressure on all the other load baring joints leading the front 2 to fail when weight was applied  i.e someone jumping on it .
P.P.S We still wont tell you how we get rid of the old glue :)

Llanrwst Watkin Owen clock. snowdoniantiques.co.uk

Why settle for less than you deserve ?

It's never about the time its about the vision that goes into the craftsman/woman to see through the problem to get the very best out of the materials laid before them .
Below is the clock works of a Watkin Owen Llanrwst 8 day long case clock slightly worse for wear and in need of a little tlc and a scrub with a good yard brush ( not recommended unless your a professional yard brush scrubber ) .

Even though the works look like there in terrible condition its not really that bad , it doesn't need re-bushing ( Technical term for further details Google it ) nor new wheels cutting or teeth straightening the interlocking lifting mechanism still inter-locks and as it says on the tin still lifts .
The only problem is it just hasn't been looked after , with the soot from an open fire and it not been oiled or serviced for at least 50 years you'll find it will effect the works and the clock will stop .
A clock works is like a car engine , it need Oiling , it needs servicing once ever 2 years is enough to get you the very best out of a works and can save you hundreds of pounds .
Below is the same works the way that it should look .

All our clocks that we sell and restore look like this , the works have to be so clean as to not allow any dirt and grime to interferer with the workings you see the grim can cause extra wear on wheels and cogs that interlock .
If your clock works doesn't look like this when you buy them or have them restored the person you get it from either doesn't know a lot about looking after the works or just doesn't care .

" We Do ..... " :)

An Sympathetic Ear .....

People ask me why I get so passionate about Antiques especially the ones made locally in and around this wonderful little town of ours called Llanrwst.

Could it be there beauty ? maybe there style ? definitely  there age ? or is it because it shows off the way Wales is depicted through its wonderful  cultural history ???????????????????????
Although these are all great reasons there not quite the reason I would have given for my Passionate behaviour that arises from what you don't see as much as what you do .

Ok let me clear up the haze .

Below you'll see a wonderful example of a Llanrwst clock made in 1755 by no other than John Owen .
As you can see its made from the finest , strongest , most beautiful of colours , Welsh Oak  grown right above the town .

Of course beautifully restored by us here at Snowdonia Antiques even though we do say so ourselves .
The finished piece hides a wee secret one that no one might have seen for hundreds of years .

These are the initials of the case maker who built this wonderful provincial clock case and this is why get passionate about pieces .
250 years ago there was a joiner sitting in an Ice cold workshop somewhere in Llanrwst just the way we do today  ,  he worked hard producing wonderful pieces for his customers with limited tools and knowledge of how clocks work but without him clockmakers like John Owen would not have had such wonderful cases for there clocks to be displayed in .
The case makers very rarely got the credit they deserve and faded into history like smoke on the wind .
Noone knows what the I.D that was branded into the back stands for so I'm going to call him Idris Davis and I'm going to lift a glass of Red to him tonight and toast not only work which he made Before George Washington Was America's First President , Marie Antoinette still had a head and  Britain's Empire was stretching across the world  .
I'm going to raise a glass to him knowing that 250 years after he sweated blood sweat and tears making this case there's still a little fella sitting in an Ice cold workshop in Llanrwst fixing it :)