Gangster Auction: Your Chance to Buy Al Capone's (Broken) Patek Philippe
September 12, 21
(IDEX Online) - Al Capone's diamond-encrusted platinum Patek Philippe pocket watch is to be auctioned - even though it doesn't work.
It's among 174 items - including two guns - being sold by California-based auctioneers Witherell's in a sale entitled A Century of Notoriety: The Estate of Al Capone (Live).
The watch owned by the infamous Prohibition-era crime boss is set with with 90 single cut diamonds (.02 ct each / VS / EF) and has an estimate of $25,000 to $50,000.
The condition report says: "Not working at present time. Dial is yellowed. Missing minute hand. Some rust on center post."
Other items of Capone's jewelry include:
A diamond tie bar containing 21 single cut diamonds (.005 ct each / VVS / DEF). Estimate: $2,500 - $5,000.
His stick pin containing a pearl, synthetic sapphires and 14 diamonds (.16 ct TW / VS / F). Estimate: $2,500 - $5,000.
A 15k pin with white coral center. Estimate: $500 - $1,000.
Capone, who died in 1947, has become the most collected historical figure in the criminal world.
A diamond watch he owned sold for $84,375 in 2017, and in 2014, Sotheby's sold his 1932 silver-plated and engraved cocktail shaker for $68,500.
The entire collection passed from Capone's widow Mae to the couple's only child Sonny Capone and then to his daughters.
The sale is on 8 October.