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Sale 109
Lot 32
Sylvester Crosby's Pocket Watch and 1860-O Silver Dollar Birth Medal. This lot consists of a pocket watch with winding key and felt bag plus an 1860-O Seated Liberty Silver Dollar inscribed to Sylvester Crosby's nephew, James Allen Crosby, as a birth medal dated July 28, 1864. The diameter of the pocket watch is 1 & 13/16 inches and the case is 18kt gold. The watch was inspected by D. J. Bosworth, a watchmaker in Concord, New Hampshire, on 1 June 1986. He described the watch as follows: "E. Howard & Co., Boston Mass. Movement #21548. 18K WP & Co. #8066 Model III." His professional assessment of the watch was "This watch is in the best mechanical condition of any Model III I have seen." Signed D. J. Bosworth. The pocket watch is old, beautiful, and in remarkably good condition, but it's the provenance of the watch that makes this such a special lot. Sylvester Sage Crosby (2 Sept 1831-18 Aug 1814) was a watchmaker by profession since the age of 17, and this was his personal pocket watch that was given to him by his father. The provenance provided by the family and others shows the watch was given to Sylvester by his father, the Reverend Dr. Jaazaniah Crosby, then by Sylvester prior to his death to James Allen Crosby (nephew of Sylvester Crosby), then to the Reverend Edward Webster McGlenen (nephew of James Allen Crosby), and on 4 May 1986 by Irene McGlenen (wife of the late Reverend Edward McGlenen) to Robert Wester, subsequently from Robert Wester to Babe Binnette shortly before Wester's death, and finally to Jim Neiswinter in March of 2014. The accompanying 1860-O silver dollar is in extremely fine condition. Crosby added an inscription (probably did the engraving himself, but we don't know for sure) in the field above the eagle "James Allen Crosby" with "July 28 1864" below. He gave this silver dollar to his nephew as a birth medal. The inscribed silver dollar (along with two Crosby medals dated 1869 & 1876) was purchased on 6/3/1986 by Robert Wester and the dollar was eventually acquired by Jim Neiswinter. Included with this lot are the following relevant documents: The D. J. Bosworth (Watchmaker) 6/1/86 report with a partial provenance of ownership written on the back, another report from Bosworth the watchmaker dated 5/15/86 stating "This watch in perfect mechanical condition", a background report on the E. Howard Watch Company that shows their Model III watches were made in 1862, four color photos of the watch taken from different perspectives, a copy of the Spring 1982 edition of "The Asylum" quarterly journal that contains an article on the history of the Crosby family and Sylvester's contributions to the hobby, and a copy of the Colonial Newsletter dated July 1987 that contains an article written about Crosby by Robert Wester. Among other things the article discusses the disposition of Sylvester Crosby's personal effects with specific mention of this pocket watch and the inscribed 1860-O silver dollar. In your cataloger's opinion this watch and silver dollar would be perfect companions to the preceding lot, the S-15, that was discovered by Sylvester Crosby. Lot of 2 pieces. Estimate Value $8,000 - UP
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| Realized $5,520 |
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