Tiffany & Co./Movado timepiece given to Eleanor Roosevelt by FDR.
Watches have always been the perfect go-to gift for graduations, anniversaries, birthdays and more. In my household alone there are several timepieces with engraved casebacks celebrating momentous occasions in our lives, and each is a cherished heirloom.
On a more high-profile note, RR Auction is offering an heirloom timepiece owned by Eleanor Roosevelt, gifted to her by Franklin Delano Roosevelt for her 53rd birthday in 1937. While this was certainly a personal and cherished event in their lives at the time, the watch may now be appreciated for its larger context in history. But besides its interesting provenance, Tiffany & Co. marking and its Movado heritage, it also features dual engraving on the caseback, which points to two generations within the family.
Engraved caseback of a Tiffany & Co./Movado watch given to Eleanor Roosevelt by FDR for her 53rd ... [+]
The engraving reads, “E.R. from F.D.R., Oct. 11, 1937,” with later engraving evident above and below reading, “C.R. from E.R., Christmas, 1950.” The former denotes the watch’s role as a birthday gift to Eleanor, while the later notation reveals that Eleanor subsequently gave the watch to the couple’s eldest grandson, Curtis Roosevelt, for Christmas in 1950. In addition to a long civil service career, Curtis is known for his book Too Close to the Sun: Growing Up in the Shadow of my Grandparents, Franklin and Eleanor, which was published in 2008.
The round stainless steel watch with stainless steel link bracelet, circa 1930, is a diminutive 23mm in size, designed for a lady’s wrist, while the sand-colored dial displays gold-colored Arabic numerals and indexes, blued hands and a seconds subdial at 6 o’clock. Inside, a 15-jewel mechanical Swiss movement keeps things running. The engraving on the solid caseback is in block lettering.
Also on sale at the Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring Pop Culture auction is a pewter desk set crafted at Vall-Kill, and it is an example of those given to the White House Staff by President Roosevelt for Christmas. The set includes a letter holder with a small medallion portrait of FDR and marked “Val-Kill” on the bottom, a notepad holder embellished with the same medallion and also marked Val-Kill, and a smaller envelope holder with a presidential seal medallion on the front. A letter opener with a presidential seal medallion is included.
Interestingly, Mrs. Roosevelt co-founded Val-Kill Industries in 1927 with her friends Nancy Cook, Marion Dickerman, and Caroline O’Day at the Roosevelt family estate in Hyde Park, New York. Their intention was to create heirloom-quality items—including furniture, pewter, and homespun cloth—using traditional craft methods. The company’s goals, too, included a broader social purpose of providing a supplemental income for local farming families and of creating a balance between agriculture and industry in the region. Its metalworking forge was not established until 1934, and the partnership was dissolved six years later, in 1940. The Roosevelts commissioned gifts from the forge in its heydey, including desktop accessories and key chains.
An example of a desktop magnifying glass given to the White House staff by President Roosevelt as a Christmas gift is on the auction block. It features a mahogany-colored leatherette covering embossed in gold with the inscription, “Christmas 1943, From F. D. R.”
The Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring Pop Culture auction from RR Auction in Massachusetts will conclude on March 4. More details may be found here.
