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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;PaulBD, post: 782471, member: 11378&quot;]Hi again.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Don&#039;t worry, there is nothing &quot;wrong&quot; with there being no signature. Some makers didn&#039;t because they left the plate blank for a retailer to inscribe their own name but this wasn&#039;t always done so a lot are blank. Some makers made parts for retailers and sort of &quot;pseudo-makers&quot; to assemble and fit into the case, so sometimes the case or dial is signed not the movement.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can never assume that the name on a dial is the name of the maker. Sometimes it is but more often it isn&#039;t. Sometimes the bronze figure is signed or more commonly carries a foundry stamp underneath or inside - same for the cases.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>This movement is completely genuine and right for the period around 1840 or so - maybe a tad earlier or later but in value terms it doesn&#039;t matter.</p><p><br /></p><p>By around 1850-70, the vast majority of these French movements were being mass produced by people like Japy Freres. They sort of converge onto a very standard template design with only minor differences between the main makers - in fact Japy made pieces and movements for some of the other makers who then just put their own name on them. When you look at later 19C movements by people like Japy, Marti&nbsp; Vincenti and Mougin, they all look more or less the same apart from whether or not they use a locking plate/count wheel. </p><p><br /></p><p>Sorry, I&#039;m rambling....The point is, your movement was clearly made a little before that near uniformity of design was in place. It&#039;s &quot;getting there&quot; and has the basic structure but still has some slight differences. That&#039;s how you can date it (roughly) and that&#039;ll appeal a little more to buyers than a standard slightly later Japy one would.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even so, that&#039;s all for interest and it won&#039;t affect an auction house&#039;s valuation much. A known signature might have (like one of the big Paris retailers) but c&#039;est la vie. What will sell your clock is its external appearance and the quality of the case and figure on top. The glass dome will add value too - people like those. A BIG factor is whether it&#039;s working correctly too - buyers generally don&#039;t like clocks that aren&#039;t fully working and they end up being purchased by restorers and dealers. </p><p><br /></p><p>Again, best of luck with your sale.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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