Theodore Roosevelt’s watch was stolen from a museum in Buffalo. More than 35 years later, an auctioneer found it and fought to prove its authenticity.
Theodore Roosevelt's favorite pocket watch, stolen in July 1987, turned up at an auction house and was returned this week to the Sagamore Hill national historic site in New York. Everyone told Edwin Bailey that the pocket watch engraved with President Theodore Roosevelt’s name was a fake. But hundreds of hours of research convinced him it was the real deal and the Florida auctioneer decided to sell it at a March 18, 2023, auction.
On Thursday, officials returned the artifact to Roosevelt’s family home at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, N.Y., on Long Island. Sagamore had owned and displayed the watch since his death in 1919. But a thief stole the watch in 1987 while it was being loaned to another historic site associated with the 26th president, and fell off the radar for more than 35 years until Bailey started advertising his auction online.
That entire time, the collector assumed the watch was a fake. Bailey did, too, but nevertheless asked if he could research its history and sell it on the collector’s behalf if it turned out to be genuine. The collector eventually agreed.Bailey spent hundreds of hours over the next few months investigating, he said in his blog post.
Bailey was discouraged but kept digging. Part of his investigation was examining the service marks jewelers had left inside the watch’s case. He found “S.R. 4/16,” which, based on jewelers’ practices, suggested that someone with the initials “S.R” had repaired the watch in April 1916. Bailey combined that discovery with a passage he found while reading Roosevelt’s 1914 memoir “” that he wrote after failing to win a third term in 1912.
“I was right!” Bailey blurted out to them. “Nobody I talked with — I mean nobody — believed this watch was Roosevelt’s. But I knew I was right!”The agents smiled, according to Bailey. The lead agent set the watch down onto the velvet-lined tray and leaned forward.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Teddy's timepiece: President's watch, stolen in Buffalo in 1987, returned to Roosevelt family estateA San Francisco bookstore is sending boxes of LGBTQ+ books to parts of the country where they are censored to counter the rapidly growing effort by conservative advocacy groups and lawmakers to ban them from public schools and libraries.
Read more »
1987 Oscar-Nominated War Movie Star Slams Prime Video For Censoring Poster DetailMatthew Modine as Private Joker in Full Metal Jacket
Read more »
Edgar Wright's Stephen King Remake Already Promises To Fix Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 MistakeThe Running Man Arnold Schwarzenegger and Glen Powell
Read more »
Man convicted of wife's 1987 murder shares first days with family outside of prison“20/20” looks at Leo Schofield, paroled 37 years after his first wife’s death.
Read more »
Tested: 1987 Jeep XJ Wagoneer LimitedFrom the archive: Still civilized, now dynamized.
Read more »
1987 Volkswagen GTI 16V Tries to Stand OutFighting the good fight.
Read more »