Cool story from the FBI who labored along with the Nationwide Parks Service after an auctioneer in Florida found a pocket watch from the 1800s belonging to the Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. The timepiece was given as a present by Teddy’s sister Corinne and brother-in-law, Douglas Robinson, and was with Theodore Roosevelt as he charged up San Juan Hill, led the nation as our twenty sixth President and explored the Amazon (learn the e-book River of Doubt, its unimaginable). The watch was stolen in Buffalo, NY in 1987 and had been off the radar ever since. Cheers to the NPS and the FBI, learn the total press launch under.
FBI/NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE PRESS RELEASE:
When a Florida auctioneer was requested to public sale off a pocket watch from the late 1800s, his analysis led him to imagine that he could also be holding a chunk of U.S. presidential historical past.
The auctioneer realized that the watch might have belonged to Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the twenty sixth president of the USA. He contacted two historic websites carefully related to Roosevelt—Sagamore Hill Nationwide Historic Web site and Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Nationwide Historic Web site—who confirmed the authenticity of the watch.
Roosevelt’s watch had been in possession of Sagamore Hill Nationwide Historic Web site since he died in 1919. They loaned the watch to the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Nationwide Historic Web site in 1971 for a six-year time period to be proven in an exhibition. The mortgage was prolonged, however, sadly, the watch was reported stolen from the positioning in Buffalo, New York, on July 21,1987, and wouldn’t be recognized once more till 2023 on the Florida public sale home.
Since Sagamore Hill Nationwide Historic Web site and the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Nationwide Historic Web site fall beneath the jurisdiction of the Nationwide Park Service (NPS), they reached out to NPS to get well the stolen artifact. NPS, the lead investigative company, contacted the FBI Artwork Crime group for added help. Each the NPS and FBI confirmed that this was the watch stolen nearly 40 years earlier.
“This watch was a reasonably pedestrian Waltham 17 jewel watch with a cheap coin silver case. It’s a ‘Riverside’ grade and mannequin ‘1888’ with a hunter-style case, that means it has a lid on both aspect which fold and encase the dial and the motion.” -FBI Artwork Crime Group Particular Agent Robert Giczy
“The repatriation of the watch wouldn’t have been attainable with out the shut collaboration between the FBI and NPS. This partnership ensured that this historic treasure may very well be returned safely for future generations to take pleasure in.”
-Particular Agent Robert Giczy
Roosevelt had many pocket watches throughout his life, however this one is exclusive as a consequence of its sentimental worth. Roosevelt acquired this watch from his youngest sister, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, and his brother-in-law, Douglas Robinson, Jr., previous to Roosevelt’s departure to Cuba through the Spanish-American Struggle. The inscription, which incorporates Corinne and Douglas’ initials, reads: “THEODORE ROOSEVELT FROM D.R. & C.R.R.”
After NPS recovered the watch, they coordinated with the FBI to navigate the asset forfeiture course of. As Paralegal Specialist Kellie Dodd from the FBI Tampa Subject Workplace defined, this “allowed the FBI to start the method to return the watch again to the rightful proprietor, the Sagamore Hills Nationwide Historic Web site.”
Roosevelt’s watch was returned to Sagamore Hill Nationwide Historic Web site throughout a repatriation ceremony in New York on June 27, 2024. Representatives from the NPS and the FBI—to incorporate our New York, Miami, and Tampa area workplaces and members of the Artwork Crime group—attended.
“NPS does a terrific job in imposing and recovering our nationwide property. The repatriation of the watch wouldn’t have been attainable with out the shut collaboration between the FBI and NPS. This partnership ensured that this historic treasure may very well be returned safely for future generations to take pleasure in.” –Particular Agent Giczy
photos from NPS.org
