LOT Holabird-Kagin Americana  /  2012 December Americana & Numismatic Auction  / 

342

Eilley Oram Bowers Enameled Gold Watch and Opal Slide Chain, NV - Washoe Valley,Washoe County

Currency:USD Category:Jewelry / Watches Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
Eilley Oram Bowers Enameled Gold Watch and Opal Slide Chain, NV - Washoe Valley,Washoe County
IMPORTANT NOTE ON BUYERS PREMIUMS:

Lot 100 to 343 have a premium of 15%.

The rest of the sale is 19.5% as noted in the listing.

Lot Pick Up: Holabird-Kagin Americana,
3555 Airway Drive Ste #309,
Reno NV 89511,
Sunday - December 9, 10am-4pm
c1860 - Queen of the Comstock

Alison “Eilley” Oram Bowers was born in Forfar, Scotland, On 06 September, 1826 and moved to the United States in 1841. After her second divorce, Eilley married Lemuel Sanford (Sandy) Bowers on 09 August 1859, and as the area boomed following the Comstock Lode discovery, their claims contained one of the richest silver-ore bearing veins in the state of Nevada. Together, their claims yielded over $4 million, equivalent to about $103 million today, making them among the richest people in the country. Of particular note, this success made Sandy Bowers the first Comstock millionaire, and made Eilley Bowers the first female millionaire in Nevada.

On 28 June 1860, the couple celebrated the birth of their first child, John Jasper Bowers, who passed away barely a month later. On 16 June of the following year, they welcomed a daughter, Theresa Fortunatas Bowers, who died when she was only 3 months old. Shortly after the death of their second child, the couple began to plan a magnificent mansion on the 160 acres in the Washoe Valley that Eilley had received in settlement during her divorce from her second husband, Alexander Cowan. While the house was being built, the couple planned a grand European trip to purchase furniture for their new home.



The Extravagant Life

As their last act of merriment before departing for Europe, Sandy and Eilley hosted a banquet at the International Hotel in Virginia City, to which the entire town was invited to attend and drink free champagne. In May, they sailed from San Francisco for England aboard the Golden Gate steamer. Abroad, they visited Eilley`s family in Scotland, purchased large quantities of furniture—including an ornate formal walnut wood chair custom made in Scotland, and other pieces from London—and took ivy cuttings from the walls of Westminster Abbey and scotch broom from Forfar, which were to be planted on the verandah of the house. While in London, the couple planned to meet with Queen Victoria, and Eilley reportedly had an ornate dress made for the occasion; however, Victoria refused to meet them as she disapproved of Eilley’s two divorces. Following the visit to England and Scotland, the couple visited Paris, where they bought silverware, jewelry, and a large number of dresses, and to Florence, where a sculptor was commissioned to make a series of busts.

Their travels concluded in April 1863 and they returned home to their newly-built mansion in the Washoe Valley. Much mystery still surrounds the baby girl, Margaret Persia, whom they brought home with them. Some speculate that they conceived the child together abroad, and others believe that she was adopted. No records seem to exist to shed light on the matter. At the time of their return, their mansion was one of the most expensive buildings ever constructed in the Western United States. The former governor of California, J. Neely Johnson, designed the mansion, which cost some $400,000—equivalent to $7.6 million today—to build and furnish. The mansion became known as “Bowers Folly.” Eilley was especially unpopular, as she was twice-divorced and Mormon, though both of the Bowers were ostracized for their conspicuous displays of wealth, which chagrinned the locals during the recession caused by decreased demand for silver following the end of the Civil War.



Even the Brightest Tarnish

After Lincoln’s assassination, the mines in Nevada began to play out, and the Bowers began to lose grip of the riches they’d taken for granted and mismanaged. In an attempt to save the mine, Sandy moved back to Gold Hill. In 1868, he tried to sell part of the mine, but nothing came of it, and he died in April of silicosis. Eilley, with the help of George Waters, tried to take over the business, but the ore had run out and she was becoming ever more financially desperate. She turned her mansion into a resort, and hosted an array of parties in an attempt to stay afloat. In 1870, she was forced to sell the mine to George Waters, thus ending her career as a mine owner. Her resort saw some success during the Big Bonanza of 1873, which brought new life to Virginia City and the surrounding areas.

However, Eilley could not escape her financial burdens. She built an addition to the mansion, hoping to attract more guest and revelers, but succeeded only in acquiring more debt. So determined to host parties and to escape her debt, she sent her daughter Margaret to Reno for schooling—and to keep her away from the party atmosphere at home—and saw her daughter only briefly during breaks between the picnics and parties she continuously hosted. Eilley was called away to Reno in 1874 to see her daughter, but arrived too late: Margaret Persia had died of a ruptured appendix. As if the loss of three children and her husband was not enough, Eilley could not escape her debts and finally lost the mansion in a public auction in 1876.



The Famous Washoe Seeress

Increasingly desperate, Eilley turned to her crystal ball and the spirit world upon which she called for help. Long known for owning a crystal ball, Eilley turned to her playful hobby of days past as a means of attempting to secure and support her future. Telling fortunes for pay, Eilley travelled and worked her way through Nevada and California, earning a reputation as a wandering seer. By the turn of the century, she was in her mid-seventies and showing signs of senility. Upon her 1901 return to Reno, she was put away in the county poor house, which didn’t know how to handle her, so soon sent her back to San Francisco via train. She later took up residency in the King’s Daughters Home in Oakland, CA, and died alone on 27 October 1903 at the age of 77.

In 1946, her mansion was purchased by Washoe County and now serves as a county park and museum. Her ashes were lain to rest behind the mansion, alongside her husband and daughter’s remains. At some point during her desperate scramble to pay off her debts and stay afloat, Eilley pawned off much of her belongings, including the beautiful and ornate blue-enameled watch and opal chain slide featured in this lot.





The gold filled watch case features an exquisitely detailed portrait of a woman with curled hair and red hair ribbons in the center of the blue enameled and ornately engraved hunter case front. The rear of the case also features the same delicate engravings and blue enameling, though some of the enameling has worn away over time. Two clear gemstones, perhaps diamonds, are set in the hair, like a bow, on the woman’s portrait. The watch is clipped to a 24” long yellow gold filled chain featuring a beautiful diamond-shaped chain slide with a 3mm white opal set in the center. The chain clasp is stamped “H.F.B.” for the H.F. Barrows Company of Attleboro, Massachusetts, which specialized in fine gold filled jewelry from the 1850s until the 1960s. The interior of the front case is marked “7442/ L/ [star]/89556” and the white, single sunk dial watch face has gilt and blued hands (spade hour hand, open tulip minute hand). The original crystal cover has been replaced with a plastic cover, which is in good condition. The rear case interior is hand engraved, upside down, “Eilley” above the “7442/ L/ 89556” case markings. At least two jewelers have scratched small codes into this case to indicate the watch has been serviced and maintained. The outer layer of the cuvette—the extra case cover on the mechanism—is marked “N 89556/ Jules Mathey/ Locle”. Le Locle is the birthplace of Swiss watch making, and by 1800 there were over 800 watchmakers working there. Mathey is a common surname, and no information on Jules Mathey seems readily available in the major European watch books. This key-set, key-wind watch includes the original key, and still sets and winds. The interior of the cuvette is marked with the same serial number and the edge of the mechanism and other parts of the watch and case: 89556. It is rare that a watch would bear the same serial numbers and manufacturer on both the case and mechanism, and they were often produced and assembled by different parties. The watch mechanism is a typical Swiss ebauche style with bar movements, dating from the 1840s-1885. The bar at the 7:30 position seems to have been soldered around the jewel inset, or bears remnants of silver. That this watch includes a Fast/Slow needle set indicates that it was produced for American or British markets. Perhaps this watch was purchased during the Bowers’ grand tour of Europe—which seems likely considering this is a classic European watch and that American watch companies produced very different styles and models of pocket watches during the same time. This watch is a gorgeous and fascinating piece of Nevadan history—a must-have addition to any horologist or collector of Comstock, jewelry, or Nevada artifacts. -61056
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