Overview
- The 18k gold pocket watch, which leads a 63-lot watches sale in Chicago on April 22, carries a $300,000 to $500,000 estimate.
- Freeman’s cites recovery from Astor’s body by the cable ship Mackay-Bennett in April 1912 and return to his son Vincent as the start of its provenance.
- The watch stayed in the Astor family across four generations and is now offered by the estate of Charlene Marshall.
- Authentication includes a Tiffany & Co. signature on the dial, an engraved JJA monogram on the caseback, and a Patek Philippe archives extract confirming a 1904 manufacture and sale.
- A 14k Battin & Co. gold pencil recovered with the watch is also on offer at $10,000 to $20,000, as recent Titanic-linked watches set benchmarks at $1.5 million and $2.3 million.