------------------------------ Clock Collection Dream Unwinds ------------------------------ City's fundraising efforts fall short By Gary Washburn Tribune staff reporter March 16, 2004 Time has run out for the city's planned purchase of a world-class collection of more than 1,500 clocks and watches--announced with great fanfare in 1999 by Mayor Richard Daley--and the timepieces will now be sold at auction. A fundraising effort to buy the eclectic and prestigious collection fell far short of its $25 million goal, and the pieces, many of which had been displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry, were packed up last month in preparation for sale to the highest bidders. In the end, the city was able to raise enough from private contributions and other sources to buy only 492 pieces from the Atwood family, said Kimberly Costello, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Cultural Affairs. Seth Atwood, a retired Rockford industrialist, amassed the collection over three decades and had maintained it in his hometown. He contracted to sell to Chicago in the hope of keeping it in the hands of one owner who would maintain a public exhibition. "The economy took a downturn, 9/11 happened and donations slowed to a mere trickle," Costello said. "Over time, it became clear to us that we were not going to be able to raise enough money to pay for the remainder of the collection. "So the decision has been made to turn the pieces we are not able to buy back to the Atwood family. Together with the Atwood family, we are going to auction ours and theirs through Sotheby's." City officials and the auction house are negotiating an agreement that could mean that all the pieces will be sold from Oct. 13 to 15 in New York. "Of course we are disappointed," Costello said. "It would have been a cultural asset for the city and a great tourism draw." When Daley announced the planned acquisition at a Nov. 23, 1999, news conference, he said a University of Illinois study concluded that the collection, the largest in the country, would generate $9 million to $11 million in economic benefits through increased tourism over the following five years. The collection would "lead visitors through the history of science and technology by showing them the unusual devices that have been used to measure time," the mayor said at the time. The pieces range from an ancient sundial to a 3-ton, 10-foot-high by 10-foot-wide, one-of-a-kind astronomical and world clock with 15,000 parts that was built in Germany in the 1890s. Officials decided not to keep the 492 city-owned timepieces "because there wouldn't be enough of the collection together to make it worth exhibiting," Costello said. Those clocks and watches were purchased for about $5.6 million. Of the total, $2.5 million came from the proceeds of a city bond issue, $2.4 million from various pieces sold in 1999 and 2002 and a paltry $761,000 from private contributions. But the city's investment is not in jeopardy, according to Costello. "There is no chance the collection has not appreciated," she said. "We are not at risk of losing money." Though the city agreed to pay $25 million in 1999 for 1,551 pieces, officials at the time said the collection had been appraised at $33.5 million. And a subsequent auction of 81 Atwood pieces fetched a stunning $28.3 million, more than twice what was expected. It was "one of the most successful sales of timepieces ever," Sotheby's spokesman Matthew Weigman said Monday. As for the upcoming sale, "word has spread already," he said. "The money out there in the marketplace for objects of great quality has not diminished in the slightest." "I think the market has gotten a little bit hotter," said Daryn Schnipper, director of Sotheby's watches and clocks department. "We are finding people are willing to spend great sums of money for amazing objects." The city's unsuccessful fundraising effort stands in contrast to the experience at Millennium Park, where gifts and pledges from private donors have soared to more than $100 million. More than 70 Chicagoans, foundations and corporations have agreed to contribute at least $1 million apiece for art, gardens and architectural features in the park, which is nearing completion at Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street. The simultaneous timing of the two fundraising campaigns raises questions whether the much more visible and prominent park project trumped the timepiece acquisition. The million-dollar Millennium donors will see their names on distinct spaces and features in the park, including a Greco-Roman peristyle at the park's northwest entrance, where names literally will be carved into stone. Those who have contributed to the clock purchase are being given the choice of a refund, helping defray the costs of the recently concluded exhibit at the museum or having their money used for some other charitable purpose, Costello said. The stymied acquisition marks the second setback on the time-telling front for Daley, an avowed fan of clocks and watches. Marking his 55th birthday in 1997, presidents of the Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Alder Planetarium surprised the mayor with a concept for a "clock park" that would have run the length of Solidarity Drive on the Museum Campus and featured timepieces from around the world. But fundraising efforts for that project also were unsuccessful, and Daley had to settle for refurbishment of a clock in the rotunda area of the Shedd. The long-broken timepiece was dedicated to the mayor in 1999. Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune -------------------- Improved archives! Searching Chicagotribune.com archives back to 1985 is cheaper and easier than ever. New prices for multiple articles can bring your cost down to as low as 30 cents an article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/archives