A shaped top to the cases of verge bracket clocks of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In its simpler form it consisted of a rectangle of mitered ovolo mouldings veneered with ebony or ebonised wood, surmounted by a brass, bail-shaped carring handle. In more elaborately decorated clocks this top section was made of fretted ormolu, and it was this open metalwork which suggested the name of basket top.