Oranjehof Dutch Connection Centre
A Friese Staartklok was gifted to Oranjehof by an ex-art gallery / antique dealer from Wellington. And we have now fully restored it to its former glory .
Back in the 1950s, a Dutchman one day had walked into his gallery, and sold the clock. The assumption by the dealer was that the man was destitute, needed money to feed his family, and sold the heirloom.
We tried to find the original family who could have been the owners of the historic clock. But the family we approached (the children of the presumed Dutch seller), have no memory of a Friese Staartklok.
We spent a few weeks restoring the gild back to its former glory, cleaned the clock, making the wood shine with some new shellack varnish, and getting the mechanism working again.
It all is still running smoothly - after more than two centuries - and the bell makes a beautiful sound...
The clock now brightens up the Teal Room in Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom.