GUEST
This was my great-great-grandfather's. He acquired it back in the early 1800s. And it was passed down from him to my great-grandfather, then my grandfather and then my mother and now mine.
APPRAISER
Wow! What an amazing provenance.
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
That's so important. We might take a moment to open here and look at this really wonderful piece here. You know what it's called?
GUEST
It's a ship's chronometer.
APPRAISER
It is indeed.
GUEST
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER
And this was made by the firm of Parkinson & Frodsham.
GUEST
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER
And they are London makers and they are sort of the Rolls Royce of instrument makers in the mid-19th century.
GUEST
Really?
APPRAISER
And actually they were founded around 1801. What is really important about marine chronometers is all about naval history...
GUEST
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER
...and how important knowing what time it was.
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
Because if you didn't know what time it was, you were kind of up the creek, you know what I mean? Because in order to determine what the longitude was for celestial navigation, you needed to know exactly what time it was.
GUEST
Right.
APPRAISER
Now, I knew that you've got a bunch of receipts and a bunch of old records. What do those talk about?
GUEST
I think they were to calibrate it, is that correct?
APPRAISER
That's exactly right. And they were a second off, three seconds off, four seconds off. That's how important these were. So on a ship, you had two or three. Because if you were a ship owner, you would lose a ship if they weren't able to navigate. So this is actually interesting in that there's a number on the front that's 1846. But that's not the date, it's actually the number of the chronometer that it is. And actually the key here to wind it is the same number. So that's how you know it's really complete. This one was probably made around 1835. And that's about the time it came into your family.
GUEST
Right, that would be about right.
APPRAISER
Many captains?
GUEST
Seafaring captains.
APPRAISER
A seafaring family.
GUEST
Right.
APPRAISER
Have any idea what this is worth?
GUEST
I have no idea. Maybe $1,000, a couple thousand? I don't know.
APPRIASER
If you're insuring this in today's market, I would insure this for around $5,000.
GUEST
$5,000? Yeah.
APPRAISER
It is the best.
GUEST
Yeah.
APPRAISER
You can buy from this time period. It is every captain's dream to have a chronometer.
GUEST
Wow, wow, that's a really good value. But the most important value is the personal value and family value.
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