# Looking For Illinois Railroad Watch - Probably In Scotland



## bcbg83 (Apr 29, 2010)

Hi, I hope someone can help me or can refer me to someone who could help me. I am living in Edinburgh, and a family heirloom was stolen from my home about a year ago, and knowing that it's a collector's item, I'm guessing it's going to end up with a collector eventually. It was likely sold or pawned somewhere in Edinburgh, as the person arrested had already sold it by the time he was caught. It's my great grandfather's Illinois railroad pocket watch. We believe it was given to him as a gift for many years of service at the railroad in Southern Illinois sometime around 1900-1910, but the initials inscribed on the front of the watch aren't any family members we're familiar with, so it may not have been his, and could date from earlier than 1900. I don't think it's worth a great deal, but it, of course, has sentimental value and I would pay anything to get it back.

What I know of it is it's gold in colour, quite aged, it could be made of any metal, it has "Illinois" written in italic writing on the face, along with italic numbering. Other Illinois watches I've seen have much bolder script on the faces than this watch. The front cover of the watch has initials inscribed on it, I believe there's an E in the initials, but I'm not sure. The initials are very ornate, take up the entire cover and are difficult to read due to how ornate they are. It came with a very long chain, I wore it as a necklace, and the chain had a small crescent on it with what appeared to be small opals, one of which was missing. When it was stolen, it was in a red or brown case.

I'm looking for contacts of collectors in Scotland, who may know the best way to track something like that down. I know it may be impossible, but since there are so many Illinois watch collectors on this forum, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask around. Thank you so much for any help!


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## K300 (Apr 2, 2010)

shame your first post is under such circumstances, hope you find it


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## Shangas (Jan 27, 2008)

Antique and vintage American pocket-watches made by the big companies (of which, thankfully, Illlinois was one), always engraved SERIAL NUMBERS on the MOVEMENTS of their pocket-watches.

If you have the serial-number, you could advertise this and ask watch-collectors to be on the lookout for it.


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## bcbg83 (Apr 29, 2010)

Shangas said:


> Antique and vintage American pocket-watches made by the big companies (of which, thankfully, Illlinois was one), always engraved SERIAL NUMBERS on the MOVEMENTS of their pocket-watches.
> 
> If you have the serial-number, you could advertise this and ask watch-collectors to be on the lookout for it.


I wish I had the serial number, but I never thought of writing it down, unfortunately.


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