What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?
“A famous and curious Pieces of CLOCK-WORK.”
Advertisements in colonial newspapers sometimes testified to popular culture and entertainment options in port cities. Such was the case with an advertisement about, as the headline proclaimed, a “curious Piece of CLOCK-WORK” that ran in the May 4, 1774, edition of the Pennsylvania Journal. Henry Doutug Prize announced that he was in the process of assembling a “famous and curious Piece” to display “at the House of Mr. LUDWIG SENGEIGEN” on Race Street in Philadelphia. Viewings would commence on May 9, but Prize took to the public prints in advance to incite interest and anticipation for this novelty.
The complex piece of machinery featured various figures, including a “man ringing a bell for the twelve Apostles to come out, and when they are all out, they stop and strike the hour of the day, and when they are done, he ringeth them in again.” If that was not to delight viewers, the clockwork also had “two angels blowing the trumpet” as well as “lions roaring, and when they are roaring, cometh out a hunter running after a game.” The animals that the hunter chased showed “the year, month, date, days of the week, hours, minutes,” and more. Prize did not wish to reveal all the surprises that were part of the experience of viewing the clockwork. Instead, he promised “several other Articles, too tedious to mention,” though his advertisement suggested that those figures were not “tedious” at all. Readers had to see them to satisfy their curiosity.
In the next issue of the weekly Pennsylvania Journal, the proprietor of this mechanical wonder confirmed that assembly “is done, and fit to be seen” on any day of the week “from nine till one, and from three till six.” For admission, he charged three shillings and nine pence per person for “gentlemen and ladies” to witness the clockwork in action, the angels with their trumpets, the apostles with their bells, the hunter with the animals, and everything else. Prize offered a diversion to entertain audiences, something out of the ordinary that deserved their attention. Even as he marketed a “curious Piece of CLOCK-WORK,” he appealed to the curiosity of readers who saw his advertisement and others who heard about mechanism as word spread.