Wellington, Ohio Auctioneers Take the Time To Get It Right! When two prestigious New York auction houses dismiss a rare pocket watch due to its ""minimal value", two Ohio auctioneers discover its true history and value resulting in a $621,691.08 sales price.
News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - Sometimes, bigger is not always better, as John Farkas and Connie Rose of Antiques and Estate Auctioneers, of Wellington, OH recently proved for the owner of an antique gold pocket watch.
When Farkas and Rose were first contacted about a watch with a cloaked history, little did anyone know the magnitude of both it’s rarity and historical significance. The owner informed them that he had contacted two of the most prominent, and well-known, auction houses in New York regarding the watch, and that they had both declined the item. The owner told them that the auction houses had dismissed the watch, stating that “after review, the watch did not appear to meet their $5,000 minimum auction value.” They recommended that he contact a smaller, local auction house to consign the watch for sale locally.
Upon initial examination of the pocket watch, the value was not visibly apparent, but that was only the beginning of the journey of extensive and diligent research into the unique and very rare watch, which resulted in the final sale price of $621,691.08!
The face of the watch in question was marked A. Lange & Sohne, which became the starting point of the research. Extensive research into the company’s archives revealed that the watch was a very rare and very important 18K gold watch. It is described by A. Lange & Sohne as a “Grand & Petite Sonnerie Clockwatch-Minute Repeating”. Further research into the documentation of the watch proved that it had an amazing story, and was truly historically significant.
Records showed that it was manufactured in 1905, and sold in 1925 to Otto Pohland, Chemnitz, for 4000 Marks and resold to Adolf Lunser, Berlin, on December 24th, 1934 for 2760 Marks, which made it a very expensive item at the time.
The watch was extraordinary in it’s craftsmanship and quality, and was shown to be one of only four watches of it’s type made between 1883 and 1934. It is amazing to consider for a moment, the fact that this watch was manufactured more than 101 years ago, and is in impeccable working condition.
Further research revealed that the crest engraved on the front of the case of this extraordinary watch belonged to Hermann Goering, a name well established in German history.
An inspection of the inside of the case revealed an inscription, which when translated from German, reads, "In cordial friendship at Christmas 1934", and bears the engraved signature of Adolf Hitler. Research did reveal that Hitler had a history of giving fine watches as gifts to specially favored political and military leaders, and that those purchases were frequently handled through Adolf Lunser.
This particular A. Lange & Sohne watch was an extremely fine and very important, 18K gold watch, with exceptionally complicated works, and the highest quality of craftsmanship available. The watch was truly an amazing historically significant piece, and because of the European interest in the history of this piece, and the exceptional quality of the watch, it was determined that the
