How to Identify Any Vintage Object
The clock obsession continues here on BackGarage. No doubt you’ve seen this fine specimen and thought to yourself, “How do I get me one?”
We think this about a lot of vintage stuff — we don’t know what it is, so mainly we ignore it, and hope we’ll one day stumble across it for under $200. But it’s pretty easy, no matter what you’re trying to identify, to use to interwebs to pinpoint it so you can search it out and get it cheap.
Once again, it’s a matter of keywords. In the case of this clock:
I don’t know the maker, so I start with trying to identify parts I can describe using terms common to everybody. Besides the obvious (clock, retro, etc.), I start with the one identifying feature: the base.
The base is similar to that of an iconic staple of mid-century design. Do you recognize it?
Ah! Pedestal base! So I try searching “pedestal clock” or “pedestal base clock” on eBay and Etsy and while I’m close, I come up empty handed. There are a few things on eBay, but all contemporary, Disney stuff. Nothing on Etsy, at least today.
So I try another stab at the hive mind: Flickr. And BAM! I search “pedestal clock” and immediately find pictures of exactly what I’m looking for here. Only one problem: that’s all I find. There’s no other identifying information about these clocks. So I try one more keyword stab, based on the Saarinen hunch: “tulip clock.”
And from that stab in the dark, we get this Flickr photo set:
Filled with information about these clocks, including a couple of their makers’ names: Goldbühl and Blessing.
So now I go back to Etsy and try again: Blessing Clock.
And this is what comes up in the search results:
The clock we’re looking for!
eBay also has at least one result under “Blessing clock” for just what we’re looking for:
So now you know a little bit about searching for vintage items when you’re not sure where to start. And don’t worry, if you’re not able to immediately find the eBay search results you’re looking for, you can always set up eBay alerts so when Blessing pedestal clocks are listed on eBay, you’ll be the first to know about it.
Read my post about setting up eBay alerts.
This is great! I spend my life doing searches like these, for materials for work. It’s an oddly solitary pursuit and one always wonders how others do it, so it’s fun to witness someone else’s steps. We work with vintage fabric and one of the hazards of our job is having to deal with a lot of queries from the public about how to find, say, “a 60s fabric with swirls like roman glass and a sort of nubby synthetic, know the stuff I’m talking about?” We don’t have time to help people with their searches but I’m going to send them the link to your post.