I had a pretty interesting appraisal on an old stainless steel pocket watch, circa dates 1910 from the movement serial number. It looked like a workman’s watch. The story made it all the more intriguing. It was given to a young baby who was separated from his mother, on a lifeboat from the Titanic.   The story goes, a mother and her child were traveling to meet her husband, working in America.  When the ship hit the iceberg and passengers summoned to the lifeboats, the young baby was brought on deck by his mother. Mrs. Astor took off her shawl, seeing the baby was cold and wrapped it around him as they waited for a lifeboat. One came available, and the baby was placed in the arms of a nurse, while his mother waited for another lifeboat.  The baby was placed in the arms of a nurse in one lifeboat but he was so distraught that one of the men on the boat handed over a shiny pocket watch to distract the baby and keep him occupied. The only men on the boat, from the history, were crew and the watch was a “common working man’s watch.” It wasn’t fancy, just kept good time, with a stainless steel case.

The boat was lowered into the icy waters while the mother waited and hoped another boat would allow her on so she could be reunited with her baby. “At least,” she thought, “my baby will be safe.”  The nurse kept the little one warm with Mrs. Astor’s shawl and a second blanket and kept playing with the shiny watch to keep him distracted while the crew rowed the life boat away from the sinking ship.  With her baby now safely off the sinking ship, the mother turned to her own safety and looked for another lifeboat which might take her. She found one, and got into it hoping she would be reunited with her son. In the cold waters of the north Atlantic, she waited for a ship to come.

Eventually, the Carpathia made its way through the ice and began to pick up the various lifeboats which had been separated from one another during the night. Her boat was one of the earlier ones to be found. As she stepped out onto the Carpathia’s deck she quickly looked for the faces from the boat carrying her son, but saw none.  After searching the Carpathia and the other lifeboats, the mother began to second guess letting her son go. After all, she had been picked up almost 3 hours earlier. Then, Carpathia saw another lifeboat and moved closer to retrieve her.  This boat did, indeed have the nurse holding the young baby, keeping him warm with her own body. By this time, the baby had fallen asleep, still holding the pocket watch when the nurse past him over to his thankful mother. The watch remained in the family until the baby died several years back as an old man.

The watch was bequeathed to his best friend who also died some years later. The friends family brought it in for appraisal, giving me the names they knew and sketchy parts of the story. I did some research and uncovered the full story I have just related.  This is an example of “provenance” which essentially is an intangible aspect of value which increases the value of an item being appraised. A friend of mine purchased the original Batman Batcave secret button, inside the statue. It was documented and he paid more for the item because of its history.

In the case of this watch, the story was passed only through oral tradition and none of the principles were alive to attest to it, linking this particular watch to the events in the story.  Even though it was plausible, maybe even likely for the romantics like myself, I could not consider the story in the value of the watch. It was a fun assignment nonetheless.

Many people would go and visit the grave site of Jesse James, which was on the property where his mother lived for many years.  They came with an almost  cult like fixation of the gunman.  She was an old widow at the time and money was scarce, so she began “working” the traffic that came her way and began to tell all kinds of stories for her audience, who listened intently.  Eventually, she would ask, “Would you like to see his gun?” and almost certainly would be greeted with a firm “yes, of course!”  She would let them handle the gun and then at just the right moment might say, “You know you sure seem fond of it.  Would you like to buy it from me?”  She would then prepare the papers for the person and sign and authenticate the gun she had just sold as being owned by none other than Jesse James.  These guns would be passed through families with many similar stories.  One happened by an appraiser friend of mine.  We talked about it and looked at the serial numbers, just to make sure the dates were consistent.  The funny thing about serial numbers is that most of these guns were manufactured well after dear Jesse had died.  Apparently Mrs. James would frequent the local gun shops and purchase quite a few guns at one time and would certify each one as original before selling down her inventory.  She thus had a nice “widow’s pension” from her sons exploits and was able to have lots of company in her old age and even some income.

And some people thought appraisals were boring business!