This is incredible... the grand daughter of the guy who made these bookends, somehow came across that I'd posted them, and emailed me!

I posted about this when I bought them at an estate sale just over a year ago, not because I'd bought cool old car clocks, from 1925, but because the carpenter that made them into matched book ends had put notes in the cases, and the seller didn't know, and it was a very cool discovery

One of the clocks came from his car, that he drove his wife and newborn daughter home from the hospital in... and that daughter, is the mom of Sharon, who emailed me! 

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2024/09/my-cool-estate-sale-score-today-for.html

Her email:

In a convoluted manner I came to your justacarguy.blogspot, read your post about the two Studebaker Elgin clocks inside of maple cases, built for them by Harry Reid Anama. 

 I was rocked and knocked to read your comments about the two neat, secret notes contained within the cases. BECAUSE HARRY REID ANAMA WAS MY MATERNAL GRANDFATHER and "Helen" was my mother.

 My grandfather worked for Western Electric for 35 years, relocating in San Diego, Los Angles, Seattle and San Jose, every few years, and always living in the same general part of San Diego.

Harry was born in Kansas in 1903, and his youngest working years were in the Santa Fe Rail Yards of Albuquerque, doing fine interior wood work on the passenger cars. 

 He learned from his father and his grandfather, and eventually worked in the woodworking part of the Los Angeles Santa Fe Rail Yard. 

 He honed his mechanical skills, including working on clocks and watches along the way.

 When he retired in 1965, my mother urged him to fill his time collecting and repairing clocks and watches. At yard sales and swap meets he collected broken furniture pieces of oak, maple and walnut, which he planed, cut turned table legs in half to use as columns, and made beautiful clock cases, with lovely key wound chiming clock works. 

He built 30-40 of such clocks, most with one or two secret compartments. The cases for the Studebaker clocks were simple, utilitarian but finely done. He always did a handwritten printed note about the where, when and how a clock case was made.

Do you live in San Diego? I will be visiting family at Christmas and would love to meet you.

Thanks for making my day!

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Ain't that the coolest thing?