A Hyde Park Village customer requested we appraise his grandfather’s watch. He had no intention of selling it. It was a cherished family heirloom. This column, devoted to the elusive concept of “worth,” was the reason for his visit. It turned out to be a most fascinating and maddening adventure.
Katrina taught classes to insurance agents on valuation theory, and we met 30 years ago on a jewelry board, arguing appraisal theory. I was a practical, bottom-line “it’s worth what it’s worth” guy. She took a more nuanced, academic approach.
This watch is a kind of living treatise on how value is defined. First, there was plenty of gold. Let’s call that liquidation value: a quick sale scenario when time or necessity dictates action. It X-rayed at just over 14-karat gold, unusually heavy, with more than $3,000 of gold alone.
Next is fair market value: a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither under duress. This is where it gets complicated. The handmade watch has no meaningful comparables. Engraved to the Tampa gent’s grandfather, Horace Greeley Whittlesey, by the President of Mexico, Maximino Camacho, it is dated 1944, with the Mexican and United States seals. The movement was relatively common, but the case is fantastic.
In 1892, the president of Mexico placed an ad in The New York Times seeking an accomplished dentist willing to relocate. Our client’s grandfather got the job, moved to Mexico, and built a life there. So perhaps fair market value is best defined by price at auction … assuming the right bidders considered the history.
Next is retail replacement value. In a sense, it is priceless, a one-of-a-kind piece. There are no others like it, and no true replacement. Most confounding is its insurance value. At a pawn shop, it might trade near scrap … perhaps $2,000. A gold buyer might pay $3,000 to $4,000. A history-minded dealer like us, willing to speculate and romance it, might offer $6,000. But how does an insurance company replace an irreplaceable object? They can’t.
We ultimately suggested an insurance value of $20,000, acknowledging that it was an educated guess. This watch defies tidy categories. Its true value lies beyond formulas, gold content, or market logic. It is simply irreplaceable.
