A gold bejeweled pocket watch of Sultan Abdülhamid II is among the 20 items belonging to the Ottoman sultans and high-ranking palace officials that are being auctioned.
According to a statement, Arthill Museology & Collecting will hold the auction online on Sunday at 3 p.m. The pocket watch is a part of the "Dynasty Collection" of Arthill, which was put up for sale as part of the "Art Works for Museums and Collections" auction.
Items in the collection are being offered for sale with a starting price of $1. However, the watch is expected to fetch $60,000.
The pocket watch was specially designed for the 19th-century Ottoman Islamic Caliph and Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II. Decorated with diamonds on 18 carat gold, the watch was manufactured in Geneva by watchmaker Fatio-Junod.
On the front cover of the imperial artifact, there are the initials of the sultan's Ottoman pseudonym "al-Ghazi," while the back cover features the initials of his name in Latin letters.
Sultan Abdülhamid II was the 34th ruler of the Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909. Abdülhamid ascended the throne as the 99th Islamic caliph at the age of 34, after his elder brother, Sultan Murad V, was deposed due to his mental illness in 1876. Under his rule, the reform movement of Tanzimat (Reorganization) reached its peak. The first Ottoman constitution, Kanun-i Esasi, was proclaimed and Parliament convened. The Ottoman Empire turned into a constitutional monarchy.
