Bearing in mind I have seen advice in everything from hydroponics to where to stay in Krakow, I thought I would try the hive mind. So; Dad is downsizing house and has to get rid of a lot of stuff. A lot of it is quite frankly tat but one thing he does have but doesn’t want to move is a grandfather clock.It was made by a clockmaker called James Houston from Johnstone and all we know about it was that my great-grandfather accepted it as payment for carpentry work in a huge house in Ayrshire in the 1930’s. Works perfectly and he puts the chimes on now and again for his younger grandkids.
We have told him to sell it and spend the money on a torrid fling with a younger lassie in her mid 70’s. Any ideas on how best to get it valued fairly etc?

Not an expert by any stretch, but just to make sure he gets a proper valuation for it because they can be very valuable. If he can’t fit it into a side car and cart if off to the Roadshow I’d have thought an auctioneers might be able to visit and advise / arrange it to be sold at auction where it should reach its value if the right people are in the room or online.

An acquaintance of mine was in a similar situation, inherited a GC that was simply too big to fit, so he sold it and got enough money to start up a small business.

The value of ‘longcase’ clocks (there is no such thing as a grandfather clock) depends very much upon it’s age – if it was made in the 17th century it’s worth a lot of money (dependant upon condition) if it was made in the 20th century not so much.

Do you have a picture?

James Houston is listed in ‘Old Scottish clockmakers’ (https://electricscotland.com/history/articles/clockmakers.pdf):

59 High Street, Johnstone, 1836

but has no further detail – 1836 could have been at any point in his career, but it is certainly going to be pre-20th century.

That shop is now: Iceland…

they come in a range of prices (assuming it is a grandfather clock)

Thanks everybody, all good. I think I am going to get it valued by an auctioneer. I will post a picture up just because.

Having moved a grandfather clock (yes I know they’re a longcase, but it’s what everyone calls them – deal with it) from my wife’s late grandmother’s house, I can confirm it was a bit easier than it looked. The pendulum and weights are on hooks and can be removed, after which the top part of the case (housing the clock face) comes off and the clock itself removed.

So if your dad is worried about transporting it, it might not be as bad as he thinks.

We had ours restored – I imagine a horologist with experience of these clocks could give you a ballpark figure.

According to a single line in a scanned PDF of “old Scottish clockmakers” I found:

HOUSTON, JAMES. 59 High Street, Johnstone, 1836.

So if that’s the right maker it’s potentially knocking on for ~180 years, depending in how long he was trading for, if its from the early-mid 1800s and still in good working order, might be worth a couple of quid, falling right on the boundary of late Georgian to early Victorian…

Contact specialist clock dealer rather than an auctioneer.

Agreed. My expectation of auctioneers is just above estate agents.

Depends on the auctioneer, I use Gardiner-Holgate, see https://www.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk/departments/5/Clocks+and+Horology

The value of clocks has dropped over the last 10 years or so though…….

Worth getting valued but may not be worth that much. I inherited a grandfather clock by John Hamilton Glasgow circa 1780. Not fantastic conditions. Auction sales looked like £500-£1000

It hadn’t ran for years so I got it restored by local semi retired clock maker.

Warning!! Take lots of dated pictures showing that everything is present and correct before getting it valued. One trick is to remove a hand, beat the price down and then sell at full price once the stolen hand is replaced. Bitter experience when selling my grandfather’s house contents in the noughties.