john gay

New Orleans based antiques store Rau Antiques has an interesting new acquisition. A pocket watch that was given as a gift by the English writer Jonathon Swift to fellow Englishman (also a writer and dramatist) John Gay. Personal engravings on the pocket watch allude to a literary group that each where members of called "The Scriblerus Club." The pocket watch was given by Swift to Gay upon the completion of his work known as "The Beggar's Opera." The personal engraving reads "JG [John Gay] may ye not be a Beggar after the opera, your confidant, Jonathon Swift Scriblerus Club, 1728." The engraved is located on the outside edges of the watch case.

The pocket watch itself is in beautiful condition and likely a product of English watch making. In 18k gold, the dial is porcelain, with blued steel hands, and contains a wonderfully decorated movement. The watch of course has been restored, and should be in working order. Aside from the ties to literary history and English comedy from the 18th century, the watch itself is a fantastic example of artful watch making of that era. In addition to telling the time, the watch is indicated as being a quarter repeater. This is a family of chiming watches whereby the timepiece chimes each 15 minutes (on the quarter hour). Price fro this one of a kind rarity is pretty reasonable sounding at $14,500. A great collector's piece for pocket watch lovers and Jonathon Swift or English satirical author fans.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.