Grandfather clock trunks
The door on the trunk can tell you many things about a clock. On earlier clocks, the door will be long, taking up all the distance between the hood and the base. The look of the clock will be enhanced by this and it will have a tall elegant appearance.
As the nineteenth century approached, we start to see a panel appearing beneath the door, with the door itself becoming shorter and wider. Eventually, there is just a short door with no panel at all. Any shape to the top of the door, was generally governed by the shape at the top of the hood. Flat top to the hood tended to mean a flat top to the the trunk door. Swan neck or similar to the hood, meant an arch or points on the top of the trunk door. This is not a hard and fast rule and exceptions can sometimes be found in country-made cases, especially in North Wales.,
Some trunk doors on early cases will have a small round piece of glass in them, often referred to as a "Bull's Eye". The main reason for this, is to make it possible to see the pendulum swinging to and fro which I find to be most pleasureable, as did the old man in the Grandfather's Clock song. Beware of any clock that has a Bull's Eye in the door but the pendulum swings above or below it, probably not an original movement to the case.
Always remember when carrying a grandfather clock case, to have the the trunk door with its hinges pointing downwards, that is, at the top. If you have it the other way round and the door falls open and rips off the hinges, it can do a lot of damage and be a very costly repair.