This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 7/18/2019.
The Boston Red Sox won three championships in four years from 1915-1918 led by the iconic Babe Ruth during his rookie season. In 1916, the team went 91-63 and beat the Brooklyn Robins in a five-game World Series. Championship rings for World Series victory first debuted in 1922 and became the standard format in 1926. Before that time, pendants and watch fobs were the most common player prize. Offered is a 1916 Red Sox Championship watch. Gruen manufactured “Veri Thin” pocket watch with Roman numerals as the hours. Engraved on the back of the watch reads “1916 WORLD’S CHAMPIONS” in a circular pattern around a baseball diamond. Inside the back case reads “GRUEN 14K.G CINCINNATI 1013550” as well as some surfacing marks. Minor scratching on the back and aging is present but the watch still remains in beautiful vintage condition. This is the third 1916 Championship watch known. In 2001 Lelands' sold a 1916 Red Sox pocket watch and the images shown match the offered watch exactly. It has a few subtle differences from Larry Gardner's that we sold in the last sale. This watch is accompanied by a notarized letter of provenance which reads “My great uncle (Henry Erhlick) was a practicing attorney and worked with many ball players in the early 1900s… Our family has a long history with baseball as we were partial minority stake owners of the Cincinnati Reds for many years. This watch was gifted to my great uncle by Babe Ruth in exchange for some legal fees that he was due. The pocket watch was handed down through our family and has been in our possession for the better part of 100 years. The backstory of the exchange was something that we were all told as kids and when my father passed he gifted the watch to me.”