AN HISTORICAL GOLD WATCH AND FOB SEAL OWNED BY JOHN HANCOCK

THE WATCH CASE DATED 1771

Details

AN HISTORICAL GOLD WATCH AND FOB SEAL OWNED BY JOHN HANCOCK
The watch case dated 1771
The gold and gilt-metal verge watch by George Prior, London, no. 5109, with white enamel dial, pierced gold hands, within a plain gold case marked London, 1771, the casemaker's mark IW incuse; with two outer cases, one of gilt metal with a watchpaper of Henry Gooding, Boston, and one of stained horn; the gold fob seal with an agate matrix carved with script initials "JH" below a cock crest (2)

Provenance

John Hancock (1737-1793), Boston merchant, patriot, Governor of Massachusetts, and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence; thence by descent as follows:
Ebenezer Hancock, brother of John Hancock (who had no direct descendants)
John Hancock II, son of above
Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty
Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty Wood
Charles Hancock Wood (1882-1955)
John Hancock Wood (1912-1960)
Thence by descent and sold Christie's, New York, January 17-18, 1992, lot 183

Lot Essay

This lot is accompanied by a note written by Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty on April 21, 1890 presenting this watch and the two accompanying seals to her grandson Charles Hancock Wood. This note describes the watch and seals as 'once belonging [to] Gov. John Hancock' and also bears the signature of Elizabeth Lowell Hancock Moriarty Wood as witness to this gift to her young son.

IMAGE CAPTION
Portrait of John Hancock, 1765, by John Singleton Copley, courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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