|
Anyone who has read the book The Hiding Place, is familiar with the author,
Corrie Ten Boom, and with what she and her family experienced during the
Nazi regime. A Friesian clock is referenced in the book several times by
the author, who had happy memories growing up in the family home and watch
shop in Haarlem, Holland. This clock belonged to the Ten Boom family for
almost 150 years. It hung near the workshop where Corrie was apprenticed as
a watchmaker to her father, who often reminded Corrie “not to ever let the
Friesian clock run down.”
Corrie acted as caretaker to her immediate family and also assisted in
family efforts to help local Jewish citizens hide in order to escape Nazi
persecution. The family was eventually arrested and Corrie was sent to a
concentration camp, where she and many others were brutalized. The Hiding
Place highlights her experiences during the war. In later years, she
traveled the globe as an evangelical speaker and wrote several books about
her commitment to the Christian faith.
Recently, Reverend Bob Stamps and his wife Ellen of Richmond, VA, were
surprised to learn they were the recipients of the Friesian clock. Ellen is
a native of the Netherlands and had served as Corrie Ten Boom’s secretary
for nine years, prior to Ms. Ten Boom’s death in 1983. The clock was
shipped from Holland to the Rev. and Mrs. Stamps in a large wooden crate.
Once received, the Stamps enlisted Irvin Rosen, who maintains the Clock Shop
in McKinley, VA, in its restoration.
Under Rosen’s care, the six-foot-long clock was given new side and bottom
veneer, as well as new beadwork around the clock face. He also replaced the
glass on the bottom port hole, located on the front of the timepiece. The
dial, which had flaked, was restored by Kathi Edwards of Georgia. The
historic scenery was repainted on the top and corner pieces of the dial.
Rosen believes that this clock was made in about 1856 by clockmaker G.
Boorsma.
The Man Behind the Restoration
Irvin Rosen, born in 1915, comes from a long line of craftsmen: His
father was a cabinetmaker, and his grandfather and great uncles were all
cabinetmakers. “I couldn’t escape it,” he said. “I didn’t know there was any
other way to cut wood but to saw it with a handsaw.”1
Rosen made his first tallcase clock in 1950 with his father’s help. From
that first piece came dozens of different styles of clocks. He developed a
banjo clock with his son Tom. His tallcase clocks feature delicate inlays
that look as if they were born in the wood.
Following in the family’s footsteps, Rosen began teaching cabinetmaking
at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in 1941 and retired in
1973. In 1995 he also retired from 25 years of caretaking Thomas Jefferson’s
clocks at Monticello.
Rosen’s forte is his method of scraping intricate designs—a replicated
effect called ripple molding—first seen on shelf clocks made by J. C. Brown
in Connecticut before the Civil War. To date, he’s made more than 200
replicas of Brown’s clocks, including the intricate molding. The April 1991
Bulletin features an article, “Ripple Molding: Reinventing a 19th-Century
Mechanical Marvel,” about the development of Rosen’s technique.
1 “Famous Friesian Clock Restored and Sent to Richmond Home,” Backroads,
Vol. 4, No. 274 (December 2004): p. 10.
2 Cindy Corell, “Clockmaker’s Work Keeps Time for Many in Shenandoah
Valley,” Associated Press, February 24, 2005.
www.WVEC.com.
|
 |
Figure 1. The restored clock. | |
 |
| Figure 2. The front view of the “Corrie Ten Boom” movement prior to
cleaning and repair. In reasonable condition but non-operative, the movement
required disassembly, parts repair, gear train realignment, cleaning, and
testing. | |
 |
| Figure 3. A back view of the movement prior to cleaning and repair. |
|
