{"id":9720,"date":"2015-11-10T06:41:19","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T11:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/?p=9720"},"modified":"2015-11-10T06:41:19","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T11:41:19","slug":"emperor-haile-selassies-18k-gold-wristwatch-auction-suspended-as-family-disputes-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/9720","title":{"rendered":"Emperor Haile Selassie\u2019s 18k Gold Wristwatch Auction Suspended as Family Disputes Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"5367908655_96cf44941c_m\"<\/a>A Swizz judge has suspended the auction<\/a> of an 18 karat gold wristwatch which allegedly belonged to Ethiopia\u2019s last Emperor Haile Selassie. The judge made this decision on Monday after Selassie\u2019s family raised questions about the origin of the watch. They argued that it may have been stolen along with other personal items belonging to the Emperor after his overthrow.<\/p>\n

Auction house Christie\u2019s Geneva valued the watch in question at between $520,000 and $1 million. The \u201c18k gold perpetual calendar Patek Philippe 2497\u201d watch was commissioned in 1954 as a gift for Selassie. It was presented to him when he visited Switzerland later that year.<\/p>\n

The auction had been scheduled for Monday, Nov. 9. However, legal representatives of the royal family led by Prince Ermias S. Haile Selassie were able to obtain a court order just in time to stop the sale.<\/p>\n

Christie\u2019s say \u201cthe Emperor himself presented the timepiece as a gift to an eminent African personality<\/a>, whose descendant is now disclosing it to the world.\u201d They further argue that Ethiopian records show that Selassie gave his high profile guests watches as gifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning and we will not stop until we get to the bottom of it,\u201d Prince Ermias, Selassie\u2019s grandson, said. He added that given the circumstances that led to Selassie\u2019s death, the family would like Christie\u2019s to reveal the identity of the \u201ceminent personality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs it is well-known in Ethiopia\u2019s sad history, my grandfather was treated with unspeakable indignities and his property confiscated without benefit of law. Included in the properties stolen was belongings and personal property,\u201d Prince Ermias\u2019 letter to Christie\u2019s reads. \u201cNothing was left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Selassie\u2019s family suspect that the wristwatch was illegally seized from him in the 1970\u2019s when he was imprisoned after being overthrown by the Marxist Derg regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved this watch so much that he wore it on few occasions until his suspicious death in 1975. All of his property was stolen or confiscated by heartless junior military officers of Communist Ethiopia,\u201d said Girum Alemayehu, spokesman for the Society of Ethiopians<\/a> in Colorado.<\/p>\n

However, Christie\u2019s argue that they cannot disclose the identity of the personality who wants to sell the watch due to \u201cconfidential reasons.\u201d They also insist that the history and authenticity of the watch has been proven.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur specialists have run all the checks on the piece (authenticity, provenance and history of the watch),\u201d Stephane Von Bueren, the International Business Director of Christie\u2019s Switzerland revealed. \u201cWe own visual proof that the watch was given by his Highness to some he knew very well at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erin McAndrew, Christie\u2019s spokeswoman, said the removal of the watch from the auction was normal when a \u201cdispute of title occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot comment any further at this point as this matter is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo: Lucien Aigner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Swizz judge has suspended the auction of an 18 karat gold wristwatch which allegedly belonged to Ethiopia\u2019s last Emperor Haile Selassie. The judge made this decision on Monday after Selassie\u2019s family raised questions about the origin of the watch.…<\/span> Read more ›<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[44,2872,1],"tags":[4444,4443,4967,4445,4442],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9722,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9720\/revisions\/9722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zegabi.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}