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Anita · 07-30-2021, 07:20 PM

(07-29-2021 04:31 PM)Steve Wrote: According to the description, the watch was auctioned 15 years ago.

Anita, do you think the watch and letter are forgeries?

Steve, this is from the auction description. "...Still, it is true, the chain goes back "only" to 1872. There is no direct, contemporary documentation, but there is no reason to presume that there should or would be. To doubt the veracity of this item, one must presume that Mary Curtis deliberately had the watch fraudulently engraved, and she would certainly seem to lack any motive to do so, inasmuch as she gave the watch away." Go to the site for the complete description and supporting documents. https://historical.ha.com/itm/political/...il-052317#

1. The is no credible documentation BEFORE 1872. Where is Lincoln's payment receipt, the name of the jeweler, anyone he told that he purchased the watch, and proof he knew Mary Curtis? We have a letter from Mary Curtis. Did she write it, I don't know.

2. Even if it can be shown that Lincoln knew Mary Curtis, what is known about Elizabeth Cob DeWitt who supposedly received the watch from Mary Curtis. DeWitt benefited from the sale of the watch. The newspaper article on the auction site says DeWitt kept the watch until 1932 when she fell on hard time and had to sell it. Yet the letter from Dewitt about her sale of the watch, in her writing is dated 1870.

So it's an interesting story but as always, "caveat emptor." $71,700 with buyers premium is a lot of $$$.