Time to put collection to the people
NATURALIST Eric Morton made the most of his time in retirement by turning 16 acres of land near his County Durham home into a nature haven.
Eric, who lived in Burnopfield and started his working life as a miner, later spent many years working as a taxidermist at what is now the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle, and was also assistant keeper of biology for Tyne Wear Museums.
But Eric, who died earlier this year, also had another passion – collecting historic longcase and table clocks.
He built up a collection of almost 300 timepieces.
Now 17 of Eric’s clocks will be sold by auctioneers Tennants in Leyburn in North Yorkshire on Saturday.
More from the collection will be sold next year.
A Tennants spokesperson said that Eric’s interest in antiquarian horology began about 40 years ago, when he first collected clocks from the local parish of Tanfield in County Durham, especially those of John Dobie, whose gravestone he found in the local churchyard.
As his interest and knowledge in clocks developed, Eric extended his collecting to clocks from the North of England and subsequently to other areas of Britain,
Some of the clocks collected by Eric Morton to be auctioned
and also loaned clocks to exhibitions. He also lectured on North country clocks at the British Museum.
One of the clocks in the auction, estimated at £3,000-£5,000, is a rare mahogany 18th century clock with a calendar and zodiac display by John Walker of Newcastle.
It is understood that the clock was made in about 1770 and was bought by Newcastle Corporation in 1885 and placed in the mayor’s chamber in the town hall.
John Walker set up his Newcastle business in about 1754 and advertised as a maker of clocks with complicated mechanisms, such as tidal dials.
Also among Eric’s clocks to be sold on Saturday are:
■ A George III mahogany striking table clock by William Fenton of Newcastle, made around 1770. Estimate £1,000-£1,500.
■ A chiming table clock from around 1730, made by Joseph Green, who is recorded as being
based in North Shields from 1720. Estimate £4,000-£6,000. Another longcase clock by Green is valued at £500-£800.
■ A mahogany 18th century longcase clock with calendar and zodiac displays by John Wilson of Newcastle. Estimate £1,000£1,500.
■ A rare 14-tune musical longcase clock of 1773 with a dial display for lunar and solar rise and fall, by Hugh Lough of Penrith. Estimate £7,000-£9,000.
■ And a longcase 1780 moonphase clock by Sami Robson of South Shields. Estimate £400£600.
Eric spent 14 years working as a miner in Watergate, Kibblesworth and Marley Hill collieries before applying for a job in 1975 at the then Hancock Museum.
He looked after the upkeep of the museum’s collection of stuffed animals – some by one of the building’s founders, the master taxidermist John Hancock.