Charles Paget Wade was enchanted as a child. For a period of time he lived with his Granny Spencer who had a mysterious black lacquered cabinet stuffed full of objects. Every Sunday she let him open this cabinet of curiosities with a magic key and explore its treasures. Charles grew up to become an architect, artist, poet and (thanks to Granny) an eccentric collector who eventually had gathered over 22,000 eclectic objects by the time he died in 1956. What would you do with such a collection? Well, in 1919 he bought the Snowshill Manor and Garden in Gloucestershire, UK, a typical Cotswold-style house that was once owned by Henry VIII. Charles renovated it and named each of its 20 rooms with a different theme. “Let nothing perish” was his motto, and his collection included bicycles, paintings, musical instruments, costumes, armor, Granny Spencer's black lacquered cabinet, and this very unique 24-hour clock made with mahogany, copper, and painted with astronomical and zodiac symbols. A nychthemeron is a time-span of 24 consecutive hours lasting a day and a night. It's very possible Charles spent this kind of time collecting, and then would start the clock all over again.

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