Christie'sThe auction house describes the piece as an 18k gold key-wound quarter repeating open-face 51mm pocket watch with metal guilloche dial, Roman hour markers and spade hands that was made in France. Biographies have been written about Poe’s but parts of his life are a mystery and often under dispute among biographers. Despite his hardships, as a writer, editor and literary critic, he was well regarded, even celebrated, among his peers and the general public. Albright, a Philadelphia merchant tailor whom Poe apparently gave the pocket watch to in order to at least partially settle a debt of $169.10, according to documents acquired by the auction house. According to the auction house, the watch stayed in the Albright family for more than 50 years until it was sold (c.1894) to a Wisconsin jeweler.

Source: Forbes June 01, 2019 13:18 UTC