Luxury watch blogger Kyle Stults has alerted us to a questionable item up for auction this week at Christie's. It's a Patek Philippe Ref. 1463 watch, which the auction house estimates to be worth $150,000 to $200,000. It allegedly was once owned by Howard Hughes.
But based on the information provided by Christie's, this may not be the real deal. According to the auction house's description, the watch is owned by a man named Donald R. Woolbright, who allegedly performed freelance surveillance assignments for Hughes in the 1960s. According to Woolbright, Hughes gave him the watch as a token of appreciation for his work.
Not mentioned in the Christie's report is that Woolbright is best known to Hughes watchers as one of two men who purportedly came into possession of secret documents stolen during the famed 1974 burglary of the Hughes offices at 7000 Romaine St. in Hollywood, Calif. Woolbright was a petty thief and street hustler from St. Louis who, along with actor Leo Gordon, tried to sell the documents. After early attempts to unload the documents failed, Gordon turned on Woolbright and worked with authorities to set up his former partner in crime. Woolbright ultimately was tried for possessing the secret documents but never convicted.
This fairly crucial part of Woolbright's story is ignored in the Christie's report or perhaps unknown to the auction house staff. Perhaps more importantly, what is the evidence that Woolbright performed surveillance work for Hughes in the preceding decade? Quite a bit of information about Woolbright can be found in two books: "Empire: The Life, Legend, and Madness of Howard Hughes" and "Citizen Hughes." Neither mentions him having worked for the billionaire.
Long story short, I wouldn't advise anybody to buy this watch on the basis of its alleged connection to Howard Hughes.
Stults' coverage of this issue can be found here.
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3 comments:
Anybody know how to get in contact with the Hughes Heirs, or who their legal representative is?
Just occurred to me:
1. With the bankrupt the nation move Georgie boy pulled so Obama wouldn't have anything to work with.
2. With the "rule or ruin" philosophy much like Satan's, where Rush, Glenn and every other conservative mouthpiece spouts!
Could it be "POSSIBLE" that they engineered this oil spill crisis as an "too big to overcome" challenge to the Dems to ENSURE at the cost of countless lives, that the GOP would be the only option to return to Congress and the Oval office! It's almost too terrifying to contemplate but I would not be surprised at anything they would pull! Wonder what would surface if someone took BP's senior management into a back room and exhibit to them Georgie's "enhanced interrogation techniques" to find out the real truth.
S&L, Enron, Retirement fund rape, Bank Rape, Taking money from lobbyist! How many of these rapes of the national conscience and integrity are we going to have to endure before someone in power has the gonads to say NO?????
Taking money from lobbyist is contrary to the oath they took to represent ALL their constituents and I think those who do should be charged with treason.
More proof that Geoff and Paul would like to censor the free press! Any comment contrary to their edicts gets deleted!
Now Geoff, you obviously don't agree with the precepts of a free press! You're becoming more of a Neo Con every day, To much association with Paul is my hunch!
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