Crystal Ball Paperweight Clock, ca. 1900
GUEST:
My grandma and grandpa came over in 1939 from Vienna, Austria. My mother was seven years old at the time. And of course, my mom wasn't allowed to play with it, and I wasn't allowed to play with it. And my grandma died in 1988. And at that time, I got the clock.
APPRAISER:
This is what's called a, a ball watch or a desk clock. And it was designed to sit on a gentleman's desk. There are a lot of these around. It's actually Swiss-made, sometime around the turn of the century, 1900.
GUEST:
Mm.
APPRAISER:
But what makes this one a really special one is the complications that it has on it. It has the month...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...the day of the month, the day of the week, and also, it tells you the lunar calendar, or the phases of the moon.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
In addition to that, it tells you the time on the side.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
But what's really special about it is the fact that it has the time in seven cities across the globe.
GUEST:
Hm.
APPRAISER:
It's a very unusual feature to have this type of dial on the back of it. In terms of value, if it just had a standard dial, these are pretty easy to sell in the $600 price range. Because of the complications on the front of it, it's probably a $1,200 or $1,500 watch. But because of the information that's given on the back...
GUEST:
Yes?
APPRAISER:
...it's probably a watch that you'd see in a retail shop for around $2,500.
GUEST:
Wow, I love it!
Appraisal Details
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