Andy Warhol-owned Jules Jürgensen Watch, ca. 1921
Watch
GUEST:
It's a pocket watch that I bought from the Andy Warhol sale in the late '80s. I purchased it at an auction house in New York.
APPRAISER:
Do you remember what you paid for it?
GUEST:
I think approximately $1,500. The Andy Warhol sale at the time was… the big thing going on in New York, and I tried for maybe 50 or 60 different items and got three, and this was one of the items.
APPRAISER:
Besides just being a fabulous piece from an Andy Warhol estate, you also have a Jules Jürgensen from around 1921. It's got the original papers, original box. It would be worth a fair amount of money just as a Jules Jürgensen. They were a fine company, they made some of the finest watches in the world back in the '20s and earlier dates. This watch was probably given as a presentation watch. It's in a beautiful fitted box. It's a little more special than most, great piece of 1920s mechanical watch, fabulous design. It has beautiful enamel, triangle kind of case. This watch was manufactured in Geneva. On the box, it's marked "Grand Prix Paris". In the turn of the century, they won a lot of awards for their quality of pocket watches. After they won the awards, they put it on their boxes as part of the presentation. Do you have any idea what the value of this would be?
GUEST:
No, I wasn't sure if I paid a premium at the time for the Warhol frenzy and maybe that premium would wear off over time. And actually, I'd wondered if it was worth less than I paid.
APPRAISER:
Well, I would say that the frenzy for the Andy Warhol stuff has kind of increased. Andy Warhol has become iconic. I don't think any of his items have waned. They've actually become more valuable, people are more… still discovering him. On the retail level in today's market, it has a value of around $5,000 today.
GUEST:
Wow! Wow.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
Wow, fantastic.
Appraisal Details
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