$9,200
The Ball Watch Co. , Cleveland, Ohio, "Official RR Standard", No. B605764 by Hamilton, finished on April 24, 1914, sold on February 26, 1916 to Morris Alister Ball at Webb C. Ball Watch Company.Extremely rare and very fine, gold-filled watch with 23-jewel De Long escapement. three-body, screwed bezel and back, engine-turned and engraved back. white enamel, bold Arabic numerals, outer minute divisions, subsidiary sunk seconds. Blued steel, "Spade" hands. Notes Webster C. BallOn April 19, 1891, The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway train left a stop near Kipton, Ohio, just as it did every day. There was nothing to suggest that this trip would forever change how the American railroad companies operated. The local passenger train from the east was behind schedule and instead of waiting at Oberlin for the fast mail train to pass by from the west, it went on to Kipton. As the story is told, the mail train came around the curve from the west going forty-five miles anhour and since the engineer's view was blocked by the freight on the siding, he did not see the passenger train in time to slow down. Consequently, the train ran head-on with the other in a disastrous collision that left eight dead, including engineers, a fireman and three postal clerks, and left several injured. The investigation established that the cause of the accident had been a slow watch belonging to one of the engineers.It became clear that something had to be done. In 1893, after two years, the ra Read more…
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2001-11-28
