I am so utterly disappointed with Christie’s behavior (not answering legitimate questions that were put to them) in the recent case of the “Howard Hughes” Patek Philippe that I wanted to lay out in greater detail some of the findings of my investigation which ultimately led to my view that the provenance of the watch was suspect.   I had initially planned to publish some of these details prior to the auction, but I did not do so on the belief that Christie’s would have answered my questions and made the need for such detailed discussion irrelevant.  Before I get into details, let me first say that my original article on this watch (June 3) reflected great excitement for the watch to be sold at auction.  It was only after details and questions were brought to my attention that I decided to change my posture on the watch.

In brief, the two areas I will drill-down on here are: 1) differing accounts of Donald Woolbright by a self-interested parties (Christie’s and Woolbright) vs. non-interested parties (2 authors of Howard Hughes biographies published in 2004), and 2) a couple of “oddities”  including a “note” from Hughes to Woolbright which accompanied the watch, and Woolbright’s obituary which makes no mention of the man’s 6+ years of employment for Hughes.

***

Meet Donald R. Woolbright (Christie’s Account)

You can read the full account in the e-catalogue, page 266, but I shall summarize here.  According to Christie’s, the watch comes from Donald R. Woolbright, a man who was contracted by Hughes to “perform various surveillance assignments” in the mid-1960s.  The watch has purportedly been with Woolbright (now deceased — more on this later) and his family since it was given to him by Howard Hughes.  According to Christie’s, after one particularly “extensive” surveillance assignment, Hughes was so very pleased with Woolbright’s performance that he decided to give Woolbright the watch as a bonus.  And so the Patek Philippe Ref. 1463 (today, Christie’s Lot 385) was purportedly delivered to Donald R. Woolbright, along with a note from Hughes — “From my wrist to yours, very pleased with your results. Many thanks, Howard.”

Meet Donald R. Woolbright (Biographers’ Account)

I cite both Citizen Hughes, by Michael Drosnin, and Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness, by Donald L. Bartlett & James B. Steele, in which Donald Woolbright is mentioned many times.  The numerous references to Donald R. Woolbright in the aforementioned biographies are quite revealing as to this man and his background, and they seem to tell a different story than the Christie’s account.

Michael Drosnin writes on page 24 in Citizen Hughes:

A product of the north St. Louis slums, the car salesman [Donald Woolbright] had run up a hometown police record almost as long as Gordon’s list of screen credits.  He had twenty-six arrests, on charges ranging from burglary and fencing to assault and carrying a concealed weapon….Back in St. Louis, police called him a “nickel-and-dimer”, a street hustler with no real stature in the criminal community…

Barlett & Steele gave a similar introduction to Woolbright on page 524 of Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness:

The car salesman was Donald Ray Woolbright, who had moved to Los Angeles just three years earlier.  Back in St. Louis, where he grew up in the city’s slums, Woolbright had complied a record of two dozen arrests for a variety of alleged offenses, including burglary, assault, and counterfeiting.  When Woolbright moved to California in 1971, the intelligence unit of the St. Louis Police Department sent a message to the Los Angeles police advising them of his background and describing him as a “con-man, burglar and fence.”

Of note, in the combined 1,100+ pages of these two books there is absolutely no reference to Woolbright being a “surveillance” man for Hughes.   The reason that Woolbright is mentioned in these books is because of his mysterious involvement in “Hughesgate” and a notorious incident in Hughes’ life known as the “Romaine Street burglary”.

Woolbright’s involvement in the  (never solved) Romaine St. robbery eventually led to his indictment for receiving stolen property and attempting to extort a $1 million ransom for the papers that were stolen from Hughes’ Romain Street offices (see page 542 of Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness). He was convicted on the extortion charge, but later acquitted on what could be considered a technicality.

A man claiming (I say this only because I have not attempted to verify his identity) to be Donald Woolbright’s son commented on one of my earlier articles that it was Hughes himself who orchestrated the Romaine Street burglary.  I am not aware of evidence which supports this notion.   Also asserted by Woolbright’s son is that “What many do not know is that Mr. Hughes had extensive surveilence done on his own employees.”  but again I am not aware of evidence that supports this assertion.

Donald R. Woolbright’s Obituary

Donald R. Woolbright passed away on March 14, 2009 in Ulman, Missouri.  This is consistent with historical record from one of my cited sources — we know from page 533 of Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness — after the Romaine Street saga, “late in 1974, Donald Woolbright packed up his family, sold his house in Canoga Park, and moved back to Missouri, where he bought a small farm near Williamsville, a tiny hamlet in the Ozarks about seventeen miles northwest of Poplar Bluff.”

Here are the relevant lines of his obituary, the full text is posted at Alternative Funeral & Cremation Services of Saint Peters, MO:

Donald Ray Woolbright, age 68, died Thursday, May 14, 2009 in Ulman, Missouri. Mr. Woolbright was born September 4, 1940 in Trumann, Arkansas, the son of the late Clyde William and Jalah Idena Sandlin Woolbright. He was retired from the automotive business, was a veteran of the United States Army and a member of Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church.

Curiously, there no mention of Woolbright’s 6+ years of employment for Howard Hughes (which Woolbright “always fondly remembered”, according to Christie’s).

The Note from Hughes to Woolbright

As I mentioned above, when the Patek Philippe Ref 1463 watch was purportedly delivered to Donald R. Woolbright it was accompanied by a note from Hughes which read:

From my wrist to yours, very pleased with your results. Many thanks, Howard.

The oddity here is that the oft-paranoid Hughes was notorious for NOT wearing a watch or carrying money, according to Paul B. Winn, a former personal secretary of Hughes.  Sure it is possible that Hughes was just being cordial, but given the other questions in play here, I have to wonder about this note.  Also, it is unknown whether or not this note even exists or if it is just part of the “story”.

***

In summary, it was with these details in hand that I submitted the following questions to Christie’s via email (they refused my phone calls) and in my open letter:

• Who told Christie’s the story of Donald Woolbright and this watch?
• Did Christie’s independently corroborate this story (i.e. that the watch was given by Hughes to Woolbright)?
• Is there any tangible/physical evidence to support the notion that this watch has any association with Howard Hughes (e.g. the handwritten note)? If so, has the authenticity of the tangible/physical items been corroborated?
• Was/is Christie’s aware of the accounts of Woolbright as detailed in the two aforementioned books?

These questions were — and remain — unanswered.

Lastly, I will lastly add that Geoff Schumacher, author of Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue (Stephens Press, 2008) and proprietor of http://www.howardhughesblog.com also voiced his serious doubts as to the watch’s provenance.

At this point, I do not plan to pursue this matter further and barring any developments this will be my last post on the subject.  I felt it was important to lay out a few additional details for the readers of this blog.

“Lot 385″ Sold On a Story….Howard Hughes Turns In His Grave…

SOLD!

for

$254,500

-

“…Unfortunately the purchaser of this watch remains undocumented and sales records of this transaction may not be available…” (page 266, Christie’s June 16 Auction catalogue)

It is unfortunate that serious questions regarding the provenance of this watch were posed to Christie’s, yet Christie’s did not answer them.  In my view, unless and until these questions are properly answered by Christie’s, this watch’s provenance, namely its purported association with the late Howard Hughes, should be considered highly doubtful.

Perpetuelle’s additional, in-depth coverage of this watch can be seen here:

1. The Curious Case of the “Howard Hughes” Patek Philippe Ref 1463, Continued (June 15, 2010)
2. The Curious Case of the “Howard Hughes” Patek Philippe Ref 1463 (June 14, 2010)
   
3. Howard Hughes Patek Philippe Ref. 1463 Up At Auction (June 3, 2010)

An open letter…

Dear Christie’s Watch and Press Department:

Yesterday I submitted a few questions to you in an attempt to clarify and better understand the provenance of the “Howard Hughes” Patek Philippe Ref 1463 (“Lot 385″ in your June 16 (today’s) auction).  I did this in good faith and because, as I also indicated, the account of Donald Woolbright in the Christie’s catalogue is inconsistent with two meticulously researched biographies of the life of Howard Hughes and in which Woolbright is mentioned numerous times (Citizen Hughes, by Michael Drosnin, and Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness, by Donald L. Bartlett & James B. Steele).  In my view as well as others, these inconsistencies call into question the watch’s purported association with Howard Hughes, specifically that it was gifted to Woolbright by Hughes.  Your initial response to my inquiries, as I noted here, was that “we are researching the inquiries and will respond accordingly.”

Today, you gave me the following response in regards to my inquiries: “After further research of this item, Christie’s is pleased to offer the Patek Philippe Reference 1463 on June 16 as planned.”  First let me say that you can rest assured that I have no doubt that you are pleased to offer the watch as planned!  Bravo and enjoy the commission.  However, I would like to make clear that your pitifully empty response in no way addressed my inquiries.

Maybe I was a bit naive in thinking that you might directly answer my questions.  Maybe I was also a bit naive in thinking that “answering questions” was a standard part of the transparency and trust that is paramount to your business.  I find the lack of transparency here unfortunate.  Were I an interested and potential bidder for Lot 385, would you treat my inquiries in the same way?

I also find it unfortunate that a former personal secretary to Howard Hughes (whom I consider to be a generally non-interested party in this matter) and the ostensible consignor of Lot 385 (whom I consider to be a self-interested party in this matter, much like yourself) are engaging in a “battle of words” elsewhere on my blog when I believe that you could so easily put all the curious minds to rest by sharing, for example, some or all of the carefully documented set of corroborating and independently verified evidence that you presumably have on file.   But you have not, at least to me, and this has only served to heighten my sense that the full story behind this watch is far from known.

These things said, I thought I might try once more to gain some clarity as to the provenance of Lot 385, and so here (again), are my questions:

• Who told Christie’s the story of Donald Woolbright and this watch?
• Did Christie’s independently corroborate this story (i.e. that the watch was given by Hughes to Woolbright)?
• Is there any tangible/physical evidence to support the notion that this watch has any association with Howard Hughes (e.g. the handwritten note)? If so, has the authenticity of the tangible/physical items been corroborated?
• Was/is Christie’s aware of the accounts of Woolbright as detailed in the two aforementioned books?

Without answers to these questions, it is my view that this watch’s purported association with Howard Hughes is just that — purported and unproven.

Clarifying facts are needed…

On June 3, 2010, I wrote an article about the “Howard Hughes” Patek Philippe Ref. 1463 watch.  It was subsequently brought to my attention that there are inconsistencies in the story of this watch, namely its purported link to American icon Howard Hughes.  The watch, whose value Christie’s estimates to be $150,000 – $200,000, is to be sold by the famous auction house (as “Lot 385″) on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 as part of the “Important Watches Featuring The Leo Collection: 31 Sophisticated Wristwatches Curated by Frank Schilling” sale.

You can read Christie’s full account of this watch in its e-catalogue for the auction (page 266).    Troubling inconsistencies in Christie’s account of the provenance of this watch arise when compared to other publicly available information and conversations with those who were close to Hughes.

These inconsistencies have subsequently been brought to the attention of Christie’s, along with questions which attempt to clarify the provenance of the watch.  Christie’s thus far has only stated “we are researching the inquiries and will respond accordingly”.

A complete response is thus pending — and expected — prior to seeing this watch go under the hammer, if it should go at all.

As are many of the stories intertwined with the life of Howard Hughes, this one appears to be a long and convoluted one.

Update: I would be remiss not to credit Massimo and the readers of his fine blog at Orologi di Classe (Italian) for being the first (June 2) to point out that the PP engraving on the buckle of the watch was also misspelled.  While I have not questioned the authenticity of the Ref 1463 itself, I can say that this feature is certainly an oddity!

Stay tuned in.

Editor’s Note: Since publishing this article, serious doubts as to the provenance of this watch, namely its purported ownership by and link to Howard Hughes, have been raised.  Christie’s auction house has, thus far, refused to answer our questions on the matter.  Despite the serious doubts that we raised directly with Christie’s, they auctioned they watch to a buyer who paid a whopping $254,000. I  strongly recommend you read our additional coverage (links at bottom of this post).

Here’s a vintage watch that caught my eye — it is a Patek Philippe Ref. 1463, owned claimed to be owned by the famous U.S. aviator, entrepreneur, movie producer — and billionaire — Howard Hughes (b: December 24, 1905 – d: April 5, 1976).  It will be auctioned on June 16, 2010 by Christie’s.  Its value is estimated at $150,000 – $200,000.  Reportedly, this is the first time that this watch has been offered for sale to the public.  It was originally produced by Patek Philippe in 1949 and sold October 11th, 1950 (to an unknown party presumably to Howard Hughes).

I, for one, am utterly fascinated with Howard Hughes.  Hughes was a man of great intrigue, excitement, passion and mystique.  His exploits and achievements were numerous and include, for example, Oscar winning films (from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s), flying around the globe in 91 hours (in 1938), creation of the giant “Spruce Goose” aircraft (which couldn’t even really fly), ownership of TWA airlines (in the 1950’s and 60’s), living and owning several casinos in Las Vegas (1960’s) and many other wild and crazy business and pet projects.  Sadly, Hughes went off the proverbial “deep end” late in his life and spend most of his final years living reclusively and battling severe paranoia and obsessive-compulsive habits.

Thankfully, though, he is mostly known for his positive achievements, many of which live on today including for example the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for biomedical research and science education.

You can read and see more of Howard Hughes’ Patek Philippe Reference 1463  on the Christie’s website.

As for Howard Hughes, I recommend Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness by Donald Barlett and James Steele.  I read this book a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Geert Tibosch, co-owner of the leading Dutch watch platform, DeZinVanLuxe (DZVL), which recently celebrated its fifth anniversary.

At a Christie’s auction, held on Monday May 10th in Geneva, a yellow gold Patek Philippe perpetual calendar chronograph, lot 84, was the highlight of the evening:

This beautiful piece, ref. no. 1527, was made in 1943 and sold on August 22nd 1946. Bidding ended at the sum of CHF 6,259,000; which is more than double the estimate of CHF 1,500,000 – CHF 2,500,000. This is almost $5,700,000, which makes it the most expensive yellow gold Patek Philippe ever auctioned.

The winner of the auction is a museum in Switzerland.  Rumour has it that the museum in question is the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.  This way they can keep the prices of old Pateks at a certain level.  It’s unclear where this rumour came from.

However, this Patek with ref. 1527 isn’t the most expensive Patek ever auctioned. This honour belongs to a Patek Philippe World Time, ref. 1415 HU in platinum. This platinum piece from 1946 was auctioned in April 2002 by Antiquorum in Geneva and realised a stunning CHF 6,603,500, almost $6,000,000.

Patek Philippe Ref 1527

Also, if you did not see it already, be sure to check out Geert’s previous feature article, “The A. Lange That Got Away”!

Ref. 5960P: Annual Calendar chronograph in platinum with a new dial…

This watch, combining two of the most popular horological complications (calendar and chronograph), has ranked among of Patek’s bestsellers since it was launched in 2006.  This year’s third and newest addition to the collection has a vivid matte blue sunburst dial that is undoubtedly the defining element of this watch.  Set against a platinum case, it really is splendid.  I just can’t enough of it!  The manufacture movement – an automatic, column-wheel chronograph (the CH 28-520 IRM QA 24H) – is all you would expect from Patek.  The exquisite finishing of the movement with hand-chamfered steel levers and bridges as well as elegant Geneva striping deserve the exposure provided by the screwed case back with a sapphire crystal window.  The hand-stitched, large-scaled blue alligator strap with platinum fold-over clasp completes the watch.

Just one of many fantastic new watches from Patek Philippe this year!

Oh what a year for Patek…what a year for watches!

Be sure to keep an eye on Perpetuelle.com’s Official BASELWORLD 2010 for many more new watches!

Movement Hand-wound, CH 29-535 PS calibre

Functions Hours, minutes, seconds and chronograph

Case 18K yellow gold, 39 mm

Sapphire crystal back

Water-resistant to 30 m

Dial Silvered opaline

Gold applique hourmarkers

30-minute and small seconds counters at 3 and 9 o’clock respectively

Bracelet/Strap Matt chocolate-brown hand-stitched, square-scaled alligator with folding clasp

Patek with a bit of “flair” to show off its new steel split-seconds chronograph…

Have you forgotten the Patek ladies chronograph announced late last year yet?  Yea, compared to these new chronographs, it looks really uninspiring right about now.  Here is the new Patek Philippe Steel Split-Seconds Chronograph (Ref 5950A), debuting now in Baselworld:

Patek Philippe  Ref. 5950A

Split-seconds monopusher chronograph in a steel case

The orchestration of micromechanical art is gracefully complemented on the face of the watch with delicate foliage engravings that adorn the four corners of the dial.

Be sure to keep an eye on Perpetuelle.com’s Official BASELWORLD 2010 for many more new watches!

Patek Philippe to Unveil 3 New Chronograph Calibers…

Baselworld 2010 is officially on, and Patek Philippe, arguably the most prestigious watch brand on the planet, is off with a bang!  This is the new and sporty looking Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split-Seconds Chronograph aka Patek 5951P.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5951P

Split-seconds monopusher chronograph with a perpetual calendar

In this beautiful watch, Patek Philippe is bringing to life its new CHR 27-525 PS split-seconds chronograph movement.  This is an impressive watch caliber (movement), from what I can tell – not only does it drive the rattrapante chronograph, it is of course a perpetual calendar –all an overall movement height of just 7.3 mm. Of course a movement like this deserves to be seen – and so Patek put sapphire-crystal display back on the back of the platinum, cushion-shaped case.  Was that really fair to say, now that I must tell you I don’t yet have an official photo of the movement? Oh well, plenty to enjoy on the front side of the watch

I am not sure yet of the other specifications – most particularly the case size – I’ll get back to you on that!

Be sure to keep an eye on Perpetuelle.com’s Official BASELWORLD 2010 for many more new watches!