Greg Parker has called my attention to the fact that Christoper Fulton, the author of The Inheritance, has been involved with another case of a disputed watch, and that some watches have mercury so it is only evidence of mercury bullets if mercury could be found on clothes, car seat etc.
There is a clear provenance of the watch that is independent of Fulton that I will write about ASAP.
Judge rules against collector in $50K watch lawsuit
Tessa Holloway / North Shore News
AUGUST 3, 2011 01:00 AM
A German watch collector is stuck with a $50,000
forgery after a B.C. Supreme Court judge tossed out his case against the West
Vancouver family who sold it to him online.
The watch was advertised on the online auction site
eBay in April 2008 as a Patek Philippe rare-model rose pink gold vintage 1950s
wristwatch of a prototype design that had never retailed and had been owned by
the family for 40 years, according to the courts ruling. It was listed for sale
at $65,000. The advert, which included photos of the watch and a certificate of
authentication, piqued the interest of Oliver Hartmann, who immediately put in
a bid at $45,000.
The owner of 20 Patek Philippe watches already,
Hartmann thought the watch was especially rare only six similar watches had
been auctioned in the last 15 years, and those had yellow gold, not rose gold.
After speaking to the defendants, Christopher Fulton
and his mother Wendy McKerness of West Vancouver, Hartmann said he was told
they had received offers of $50,000 but preferred to sell to a collector like
Hartmann than to a dealer due to the sentimental value.
Hartmann upped his offer and the deal went through
April 8, but his opinion quickly soured. Hartmann told the court he couldnt get
a certificate or abstract from Patek Philippe guaranteeing the watch as
authentic because the case numbers which should have matched the records werent
engraved on the watch.
An expert, Stefan Muser, examined the watch and
found the casing was the wrong dimensions, was cast instead of manually
assembled and lacked authentic autographs of the maker and the authenticating
numbers. The dial was also altered to fit into a movement that was not the
proper piece for the watch, said Muser.
Muser described the watch as without any doubt a
forgery with a resale value only that of the used raw materials.
When Hartmann approached the sellers for a refund,
they refused, arguing they acted in good faith and sold exactly what they
offered, and Supreme Court Justice Robert Johnston agreed.
He said Hartmann couldnt rely on the expertise of
the sellers, who were simply selling a family heirloom and were not experts
themselves. There were also several aspects of the sale that should have tipped
off Hartmann, he added: the watch hadnt been sold in retail; it was a test
watch; and the ad said it was made for, not by, Patek Philippe.
As well, several of the defects noted by Muser were
clearly visible in the photographs, in particular the lack of case number, said
Johnston.
tholloway@nsnews.com
© 2018 North Shore News
Mercury battery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mercury battery "РЦ-53М"(RTs-53M), Russian
manufactured in 1989
A mercury battery(also called mercuric
oxide battery, or mercury cell) is a non-rechargeable electrochemical battery, a primary
cell. Mercury batteries use a reaction between mercuric oxide and zinc
electrodes in an alkaline electrolyte. The voltage during discharge remains
practically constant at 1.35 volts, and the capacity is much greater than
that of a similarly sized zinc carbon battery. Mercury batteries were used in
the shape of button cells for watches, hearing aids, cameras
and calculators, and in larger forms for other applications.
For a time during and after World War II, batteries
made with mercury became a popular power source for
portable electronic devices. Due to the content of toxic
mercury and environmental concerns about its disposal, the sale of
mercury batteries is now banned in many countries. Both ANSI and IEChave withdrawn their
standards for mercury batteries.
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