Theodore Roosevelt received the watch from his sister and brother-in-law shortly before he went to Cuba during the Spanish-American War, but it was stolen in 1987.
Jason Wickersty , National Park ServiceThe vigil vanish for decade before it turned up at a Florida auction house .
In 1971 , the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo , New York , put a pocket watch on exhibit that had once belong to to president Teddy Roosevelt . But during the exposition , in 1987 , someone snatched the lookout out of an unbarred case . It ’s been miss for decades — until now .
The picket somehow made its style to a Florida auction house , where it was recover by the National Park Service and the FBI . To Roosevelt ’s posterity , it ’s “ almost as if a piece of [ Roosevelt ’s ] spirit ” has returned .
Jason Wickersty, National Park ServiceThe watch vanished for decades before it turned up at a Florida auction house.
Rediscovering Theodore Roosevelt’s Watch
National Park ServiceRoosevelt first receive the watch in 1898 .
More than 30 years after Roosevelt ’s watch was slip in Buffalo , it ended up in the hired man of Edwin Bailey , the owner of Blackwell Auctions in Clearwater , Florida . Bailey was excite by the dedication of the president ’s name , but the vigil had come without any document — so his first whole tone was to try on and aver that President Theodore Roosevelt had really once owned it .
He reached out to two museum connect with Theodore Roosevelt : Sagamore Hill National Historic Site , the site of Roosevelt ’s former home , and the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site , where Roosevelt took the oath of position following the character assassination of William McKinley . Both confirmed that the watch appeared to be bona fide .
National Park ServiceRoosevelt first received the watch in 1898.
Then , presently before putting the watch up for auction bridge in 2023 , Bailey was visited by several hoi polloi who he think were prospective buyers . rather , reports theAssociated Press , they were FBI agent .
The National Park Service ( NPS ) — which oversees both Roosevelt sites — and the FBI had been look for the watch since it was slip . After retrieve it from Bailey , they returned it to Sagamore Hill .
Jason Wickersty , National Park ServiceThe watch had been missing for more than three decades when it turn up in Florida .
Jason Wickersty, National Park ServiceThe watch had been missing for more than three decades when it turned up in Florida.
“ This was sense - good word , ” Tweed Roosevelt , the president ’s 82 - year - former great - grandson , notice to the Associated Press . “ For me , it kind of felt like almost as if a part of TR ’s spirit being returned to Sagamore Hill , like a piffling bit of him was coming back . And so I felt that was really cool . ”
Indeed , the lookout man , though inexpensive , was important to Roosevelt .
“ As it turns out , this is n’t just any previous pocket watch , ” Tweed Roosevelt explain . “ It was a watch that TR come out corking sentimental value on . ”
Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard UniversityTheodore Roosevelt in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. His bravery during the conflict made him an American hero.
The Story Of Theodore Roosevelt’s Watch
“ This watch was a fairly footer Waltham 17 jewel watch with an inexpensive coin silver case , ” Special Agent Robert Giczy , a extremity of the FBI Art Crime Team , explained inan FBI press releaseabout the picket . “ It ’s a ‘ riverbank ’ grade and fashion model ‘ 1888 ’ with a hunter - style caseful , meaning it has a lid on either side which fold and encase the dial and the apparent motion . ”
But though the lookout man was not valuable , it hold great economic value to Roosevelt . It was a talent to him from his sister , Corinne Roosevelt Robinson , and her hubby , Douglas Robinson Jr. They consecrate the vigil to Roosevelt just before he sailed to Cuba in 1898 to fight in the Spanish - American War .
Theodore Roosevelt Collection , Houghton Library , Harvard UniversityTheodore Roosevelt in Cuba during the Spanish - American War . His bravery during the conflict made him an American hoagy .
“ Darling Corinne , You could not have give me a more useful present than the scout , ” Roosevelt wrote in May 1898 . “ It was precisely what I wished … give thanks honest-to-god Douglas for the watch — and for his many , many forgivingness . ”
Not only did Roosevelt transport the watch with him in Cuba , but historian also believe that he had it with him during his voyages to Africa and the Amazon .
“ The stories this lookout man could tell over the last 126 years include colorful and heavy here and now in American account , ” Superintendent Jonathan Parker of Sagamore Hill National Historic Sitesaid in a statement .
“ Historic objects are powerful because they are literal participant in historical events , and in the compositor’s case of this storeyed watch , it is also a darling family heirloom of a far-famed American president . Almost 40 years have travel by since the public had last see President Roosevelt ’s watch and we ’re aroused to direct this watch back into the light on public display . ”
After read about the recovery of Theodore Roosevelt ’s pocket scout more than three decades after it was stolen , look through thesefascinating facts about every U.S. president . Or , see howTheodore Roosevelt superintend to cheat on death — again , and again , and again .
