Maybrick Watch up for sale on Channel 4's 'Four Rooms'

[Sally]

I've just seen the Maybrick watch being touted for sale on Channel 4's 'Four Rooms'

The asking price was £40k; the largest offer by a dealer wat £500 - for the scrap value of the gold.

UK posters can catch the episode at 4oD - should be up in a couple of hours.

Anyone else see this?

[Graham]

First off, seeing the name 'James Maybrick' on these boards is something of a surprise in itself these days, and jerked me out of my Ripper-induced somnolence.

Who actually owns the watch at the moment?

Time was when Robert E. Davis, a Texas-based collector of 'historic artefacts', had suggested to Albert Johnson (who 'discovered' the Watch) that he would be willing to hand over somewhere between $30 - $40000 for it. So an asking price of about £40000 wouldn't be too silly....would it?

The Watch has obviously fallen upon hard times.

Great to get back, even for a moment, to the serious side of Ripperology....harrumph!

Graham

[Bridewell]

The largest offer by a daleer was £500 - for the scrap value of the gold.

Anyone who believes Maybrick was the Ripper will be falling over themselves to pay several thousand pounds for it, even if they have to borrow the money. I won't be bidding.

[Graham]

Titter ye not - time was when without Maybrick this Forum hardly had a raison d'etre.

Personally, I never believed for a moment that Maybrick was the Ripper, but I did believe that someone, somewhere, and at some time, felt the need to create the 'Diary' and the Watch. For what purpose or purposes remains a mystery as far as I'm concerned.

Actually, it's a very nice watch....

Graham

[Bridewell]

Actually, it's a very nice watch....

I'm sure it is, but it's probably not a £40k watch.

[Graham]

No, it isn't.

Graham

[Sally]

The watch currently belongs to the widow of Albert Johnson. A gentleman named Tony was selling it 'on behalf of the family'

The dealers were plainly unconvinced, despite claims from Tony that Maybrick was one of the leading suspects in the Ripper case.

[Graham]

Albert Johnson resolutely refused to sell it, despite the handsome offer I mentioned above.

All this is leading me to dig out my copy of Feldman for a re-read....

Graham

[Sally]

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/four-rooms

[RavenDarkendale]

Lo how the mighty have fallen! time was when this watch was making headlines and selling books. Fiery discussions over authenticity were the norm. Maybe the owner should have taken that $30,000 - 40,000 while the watch was a hot commodity. Now it seems slim chance that they will get the £40,000 that they ask...

[Sally]

Lo how the mighty have fallen! time was when this watch was making headlines and selling books. Fiery discussions over authenticity were the norm. Maybe the owner should have taken that $30,000 - 40,000 while the watch was a hot commodity. Now it seems slim chance that they will get the £40,000 that they ask...

Hi Raven,

Indeed. But I guess any publicity is good publicity - and that's what the watch gets from an appearance on telly

Maybe Tony Revell did actually think he'd get that 40k - or maybe not. But maybe now the watch has come out of the shadows again, somebody else will pay a bit more than 500 quid for it?

It's a pretty thing, genuine or not.

[Graham]

I used to post about Maybrick on the old boards until I was blue in the face, and never got anywhere one way or the other.

Maybrick has gone out of fashion now, at least as far as Jack The Ripper is concerned, in a similar way to the 'Royal Conspiracy'. Now we have Vincent van Gogh, Walter Sickert, and a few other incredibly unlikely candidates.

I repeat, I never did see Maybrick as the Ripper, Paul Feldman or no Paul Feldman, but I always found it exceedingly odd and incredibly coincidental that the Watch 'surfaced' so soon after 'The Diary'. I sometimes wonder if there was a link between the two events that no-one has so far suspected or identified. The Barretts and 'The Diary'? Albert and Robbie Johnson and the Watch? Liverpool? Any serious suggestions will be gladly received, mulled over, and very likely rejected.

Graham

[Sally]

I used to post about Maybrick on the old boards until I was blue in the face, and never got anywhere one way or the other.

Maybrick has gone out of fashion now, at least as far as Jack The Ripper is concerned, in a similar way to the 'Royal Conspiracy'. Now we have Vincent van Gogh, Walter Sickert, and a few other incredibly unlikely candidates.

I repeat, I never did see Maybrick as the Ripper, Paul Feldman or no Paul Feldman, but I always found it exceedingly odd and incredibly coincidental that the Watch 'surfaced' so soon after 'The Diary'. I sometimes wonder if there was a link between the two events that no-one has so far suspected or identified. The Barretts and 'The Diary'? Albert and Robbie Johnson and the Watch? Liverpool? Any serious suggestions will be gladly received, mulled over, and very likely rejected.

Graham

I agree - it does seem odd that the Diary and the watch surfaced at the same time (broadly)

Like you, I don't believe for a second that Maybrick was the Ripper - so I see two main possibilities here:

The Diary and the watch are modern fakes - in which case probably a collaborative effort. Even if one accepts that view, it isn't entirely satisfactory. In some respects the Diary as a modern fake appears quite sophisticated; in other respects, it really doesn't.

The Diary and the watch are old fakes - in which case the product of somebody who perhaps wanted to implicate Maybrick (although then we might ask why he/she didn't?) or somebody's idea of a 'joke'. Perhaps the two items were circulated privately; perhaps never at all.

Tony Revell claimed on 'Four Rooms' that the watch had been examined and the writing scratched into the surface had proved a match for Maybrick's own!



A bit tricky to see how that works...

[RavenDarkendale]

Nor did I ever seriously consider Maybrick as a suspect. In police work, the surfacing of the diary and watch needed to be investigated and Maybrick a suspect. But IMHO, the authenticity of the diary and watch is extremely questionable. Toss Maybrick out.

The watch would be a curiosity, but not worth £40,000 by a long shot.

God bless

Darkendale