I admit to not checking in her too often anymore, but still have alerts set for this thread and pop in when someone makes a new post. My watch acquisitions have become somewhat infrequent and also I've sold many of my railroad watches, but that is mainly to fund and be able to buy other, somewhat more expensive watches.
So, with that in mind, more than halfway through 2019 I've made two notable purchases that are certainly in the "railroad watch" category, but really support one of my larger sub-collections of Kentucky Private Label watches.
The first is for a jeweler and watch inspector Fred Pieper of Covington, KY. I have posted a few watches marked for him, and have a half dozen or so. The "crown jewel" Pieper watch-in my book-is a 24j Bunn Special. I know OF one that belongs to a collector in the Chicago area, but can't pursue it now(unfortunately, there's more to that story than I want to get in to, and even more unfortunately that particular watch will likely be available for sale in the coming years).
In the mean time, though, here's a Hamilton 940 signed for Pieper. This would not be a particularly notable watch aside from the fact that it was the 14th 940 made-the first serial number was 48006, and this is 48019. I had the opportunity to examine it next to 48012, which sold under my nose a few years ago for a price higher than I wanted to pay, and is also marked identically for Pieper. Of these early watches, the ledgers indicate that 012, 019, and 020 were sold to Pieper-I just need to find 48020 to have the consecutive!
The second was something that I thought I'd have to wait a lot longer to get, but it presented itself at the right time. The Ball Watch Company was arguably a private label in and of itself, but in the early years they sold "Official RR Standard" 17 jewel Hamilton Grade 938s or grade 999s marked for a wide variety of Ball dealers/inspectors. I think 30 some odd separate names have been identified, but quantities of each private label are quite low. The only one that REALLY interested me was signed for Wm. Kendrick's Sons, Louisville, KY. Fortunately, also, this seems to be among the most plentiful of the so called "Ball Private Labels" along with Marcy & Co of Indianapolis. I've passed on two others over the years. Sometime around 2014 one was listed on Ebay. I had planned to bid $2K on it, and was amazed when I watched the price climb well past my budget for a closing price of $2800. The second was listed a few months later in a Bonhams auction, and was rough and without the matching dial. I debated about whether or not to bid, and ultimately the hammer fell on that one at $800 without meeting the reserve(that was still more than I wanted to pay-I'd have maybe paid $500 as a place-holder, but that is an impossible to find dial).
This past spring, I was walking through the show in Wilmington, Ohio(Cincinnati area) when Don Barret of City Bank Antiques(Cleveland area) called me down and said he had a "Ben item." What he showed me wasn't QUITE as nice as the $2800 Ebay one, but was close, and he named a price a fair bit more in line with what I was willing to pay-and I negotiated it down to half the price of the Ebay example of a few years ago. So, that watch came home with me.
