(PatriotPostNews.com) — The pocket watch that Theodore Roosevelt carried with him through the Amazon rainforest has emerged in Florida. The watch was stolen in the mid-1980s from its display at a historic site in Buffalo, NY. Now, almost four decades later, the watch was discovered in Florida, and the FBI had questions.
The 26th president’s watch was given to him by his sister and brother-in-law, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson and Douglas Robinson Jr. The watch is inscribed with both of their initials, D.R and C.R.R., as well as President Theodore Roosevelt’s name. Roosevelt’s family gave him the watch before his travels through the Amazon Rainforest and Africa. At 55 years old, Roosevelt explored what were uncharted regions of the world, including a notorious river in the Amazon known as the River of Doubt.
The watch was gifted to the president in 1898, before he departed for Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The sentimental watch traveled with him through the war and through his many expeditions. The 1888 model watch is not ornate. The watch’s value comes from its sentimental history.
After Roosevelt’s passing in 1919, the watch was put on display at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Long Island. The watch was managed by the US National Park Service (NPS). In 1971, the NPS loaned the watch to the Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, located in Buffalo. The watch remained on display for about 16 years before it was stolen in 1987.
In 2023, 36 years after the watch’s disappearance, the watch resurfaced in Florida. The watch was set to be sold off at an auction, but the auctioneer realized the watch’s significance and notified US authorities. The NPS partnered with the FBI Art Crime Team to investigate the origin of the watch.
The NPS and FBI confirmed the watch to be the 126-year-old silver Waltham 17 jewel watch owned by President Theodore Roosevelt.
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