Mora Clocks: Guest Blogger Peonies & Orange Blossoms

Hi Everyone! I'm Angelina from Peonies & Orange Blossoms and Simone loved my post about Antique Swedish Mora Clocks and asked me to feature a Mora Clock post on her lovely blog! I am so excited to be here!!  I love that this blog is all about about antiques... with occasional cow picture thrown in! 

I have been just dying for an antique Swedish Mora clock since I first laid eyes on one years ago.  I know they are trendy right now, but that's okay.  They were trendy in the 1790s, too!

Antique Mora clocks

Mora clocks were made in Mora, Sweden when the town came onto hard times.

Mora Clocks are often marked with the inscription "A A S Mora".  These are the initials from Krang Anders Andersson (1727-1799) from Oestnor.  He is traditionally known as the first clock maker in the town of Mora.  (A A S = Anders Anders Son).  AAS initials appeared on clocks in 1792.

Antique Clocks with the "AAS Mora" on their faces, except the one on the bottom right with the flower pot.

Each area in the province of Darlana produced a different part of the clock.  The clocks were initially sold without a case, then buyer would then ask various locals to make a case.  That is why there is so much variety in these clocks!

Eventually however, the "Moraklockor" grew out of fashion.  A published manuscript from 1878 quotes, "In Mora clocks are being produced, but they are very old-fashioned models which cannot be compared to the more tasteful clocks which are being imported from North America and Germany".  HA! The clocks were produced for about 80 years and then fell out of style.

A very unusual mora clock in a museum

There are a few different types, all of which are usually made from local pine but sometimes oak.

Fryksdall: They have a pinched in waist, wide belly, and curly scroll.  These ones are most appealing to me. They are often painted in whites, cremes, and greys.

Bridal: These clocks are the most unusual and most expensive; they have fine carvings and paintings on them.  Often given to the bride on her wedding day.

Country:  Plainer in appearance with less decoration.  Simple hood crowns, may not have a face glass. They are often painted with folk art or in browns, yellows, and reds.

City: a catch-all phrase for all remaining clocks. These ones are often painted black.

a collection of "bridal" mora clocks!

Clocks made in the North of Sweden were thin and tall.
Clocks made in the South of Sweden were fatter with exaggerated curves.

Antique Mora clocks in beautiful blues

Mora clocks do come with original paint; however, through the years they have been painted and repainted at times.  The original owners would have never had the "chippy" look; they would have had a new very finely painted clock!  The new "chippy" look is all the rage these days with the shabby-chic look.

antique Mora clocks in chipped down to original wood

They come in all shapes and colors... here are some beautiful blues...

Antique Mora Clocks

These ones are more ornate with finer hand painting...

Antique Mora Clocks

Antique mora clocks painted black and gold in the chinoiserie style...

Chinoiserie black and gold antique mora clocks

 Beauty in the simplicity of white and grey...

Beautifully decorated, highly ornate with fancy crowns and painted bodies, these are bridal clocks:

ornate bridal Mora clocks

They do come in all shades, I love these pink and green clocks...

pink and green antique Mora clocks

Buying a mora clock is making a statement piece purchase.  If you are unhappy with the color of the clock you purchased, you could always repaint it to one that matches your room!
Here are some rooms showing how you can incorporate such a lovely piece into your household:

from Swedish Interior Design

from Brown Rigg Interiors

from Lars Bolander, the master of Swedish Style

picture from House Beautiful

picture from House Beautiful

The reason I wrote about these clocks is because I purchased one of my own!!  Check out my blog Peonies & Orange Blossoms to see which one I purchased!!

Don't forget to follow me at bloglovin, twitter, pinterest, and google plus.

Where to purchase?? Check out all of these fine antique mora clock dealers from which I took the pictures from: Gustavian, Lone Ranger Antiques, Bagatelle Antiques, Cupboards and Roses, A. Tyner Antiques, Eloquence Inc, Raymond Goins, Scandinavian Antiques & Living , M. Naeve, Maison and Co, C'est La Vie

Sources: reading source 1 reading source 2 reading source 3 reading source 4 reading source 5

These pictures are not my own. I put the sources on the pictures. If you own the picture and want to take it down, let me know.

A Herd of Staffordshire Cows

 I saw my first real staffordshire cow in 2004, that is, cows in the pottery making region of England.  We were driving on a country road.  I think we were the only car that had ever been on that road, as they saw us coming they all ran over to the fence.

My family teases me because I always have to take photos of sheep and cows when I travel.    I am most famous for chasing sheep up the mountainside trying to get photos

Anyway, back to cows.   Here is a photo of a beltway cow in Scotland.  Aren't they interesting!

Cows in Ireland

Cows in the Cotswolds.  They obviously have enough to eat, all laying down!

 I can't forget my trip to Germany and the Almatreib festival (driving the cows from the mountain pasture at the end of the summer)

Fabulous headresses, gigantic bells, pretty cows!

I'm always saying sometimes it is better to group collections together.  Well, I wandered all over the house and put all my staffordshire cows in one spot.  Quite a herd, don't you think!

 Below are creamers with milkmaids.

It cracks me up the way they all have their mouth open-- because that's how they look, moooo!

Here's a bunch of orange cows.  some are spill vases.  They probably were pairs at some point, but I only have one.  The bottom shelf is a cute pair.

I tend to like the figures with milk maids, as you can see below.

Every time I look at my cows, I remember a childhood story my dad would tell.  He would say:  "when I was a boy, I was a cow boy.  I had a cow, and I would take him to the pasture for the day.   He spoke with a very heavy accent "ven I vas a boy.."  Not being from this country,  a "cow boy"  was different to him than the cowboys of the wild west.  I mean, in his world, the horses were being used to pull plows, if you were lucky enough to have a horse.  Then, the young boys would take the cows to the pasture for the day.

He grew up in Ukraine and was working by the time he was 4 or 5.  His older brother was taking him to the field as a toddler and taking care of him.  As he got "older" he would go out on his own.   He is the little guy on the right.

He would talk about how he would spend the day in the fields "watching" the cow, playing in the stream, trying to catch fish and laying in the fields, watching the clouds roll by.  It sounds like some of the very few happy memories he had as a child.

I've grouped them all in a display cabinet off the kitchen.

You can see why so many staffordshire cow figures were made.  They were an integral part of daily life back then.   Now they are part of mine!