Cottage Clock

Rectangular wood case with a robust movement, easy to transport and affordable to ship, even overseas. Paper label inside door, Manufactured & Imported by Rogers & Co., American Warehouse, 546, New Oxford Street, London. Zinc painted dial signed C. Jerome, New Haven Conn.

In 1842, Chauncey Jerome sent a shipload of clocks to England (note the label described above). British revenue laws gave the government the right to buy foreign goods at their wholesale price plus 10%, thereby protecting English clock manufacturers from competition. Jerome sent another shipment at the same value, and continued to do so until the British government finally gave in. They finally had to admit that they could not compete with the affordable American clock. A world market for American clocks was born.