Okay, I have to confess to a weakness. Yes, friends, I have a dangerous illness that probably cannot be cured. I collect tall case or grandfather clocks! With 13 in the collection, my wife and daughters are not happy with me. In fact, their frequent comment is that they will call the auctioneer in before I am cold to get them out. How did it happen? I mean tall case clocks (using the academic term here for them) are not exactly something that you can fit into your pocket, car or house easily. They are big! And they are temperamental for sure. When they are not in synch at home, midnight is a running chorus of chimes that goes on for way to long. It all began for me when I was the director of the Heritage Center of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania. Lancaster and the Pennsylvania German counties surrounding it was a center of tall case clock production in the 18th century. More highly valued than almost anything on an inventory, they were the ultimate statement of conspicuous consumption. He who had a clock had money in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The museums collections were solid in this area (and I was proud to have added numerous clocks over the years). My close friend and mentor during this period was John J. Snyder. To say that John was brilliant when it came to antique furniture was an understatement. His guesses were better than most peoples facts. John was brilliant, and he loved clocks. When he passed, his collection was well over a hundred, and it documented the art of clockmaking in nearly every county in central and eastern Pennsylvania. Today, a portion of the collection can be seen at Historic Rock Ford in Lancaster, and it is well worth the trip. John taught me a great deal about clocks, but I never could afford to buy one at auction. These were the heady days of the 1990s when the antique market was in overdrive. A 30-hour clock was $5,000 if it had quality, and an eight-day clock was $8,000 to $100,000 depending upon what it was. Not in my price range, and I had to settle for a commercial arts and crafts clock that I found on a Sunday at Adamstown. In the past decade, the prices for clocks have come down, and so my interest has been fired up about them. When I look at a tall case clock, I see a marriage between the skills of both a cabinetmaker and a clockmaker. And while I am not a horologist, I have amazing respect for a machine that was first put into motion in the 18th century and still running today. And so my odyssey began with the purchase of a Harrisburg produced clock from the early 1800s that I got from my old friend Will LaFond. Will and his dad, the late Ed LaFond, know a breathtaking amount about how early clocks work. So that clock is in the parlor. It was followed by a group of three clocks from a Conestoga Auction Co. sale because I could not let them go at such a reasonable price (oh come on we all do that). And now every room short of the bathroom, but including my office at home and work, has tall case clocks in it. Will my addiction pass? Well, I am running out of room. But the other day I spotted a clock coming up at sale, and it might just scratch the itch that I am feeling for a new clock. Isnt collecting grand! Born to collect should be the motto of Peter Seiberts family. Raised in Central Pennsylvania, Seibert has been collecting and writing about antiques for more than three decades. By day, he is a museum director and has worked in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Virginia and New Mexico. In addition, he advises and consults with auction houses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly about American furniture and decorative arts. Seiberts writings include books on photography, American fraternal societies and paintings. He and his family are restoring a 1905 arts and crafts house filled with years worth of antique treasures found in shops, co-ops and at auctions.