#454237 Lot 225 in 6/21/09
HAMPDEN BALL LIST - HAMPDEN LIST
SERIAL SIZE JEWELS MVMT MARKED DIAL MARKED Source
9192 Whitcomb Ball Hampden Bulletin 199
346262 18 15 HAMPDEN W C B C O Ueberall
372594 18 15 HAMPDEN W C B C O Ueberall
372599 18 15 Hampden W C B C O Nigel Harrison
410538 18 15 B S H G Fancier style Bill Kapp
444731 18 15 B S H G FANCIER STYLE Hernick
454237 18 15 BSSG Fancier style DS Jones/Horan
480814 18 15 B S S G Fred Hansen
480872 18 15 B S S G FANCIER RED 5 MIN MRKR Ueberall
481080 18 15 B S S G FANCIER DIAL RED 5 MIN oldwatch.com
481239 18 17 B S S G Ueberall
481259 18 17 B S S G Ebay
481303 18 15 B S S G fancier style Ron Birchall
626754 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
648781 18 Hampden (SR) W C B C O !!?? Jeff Hess
657953 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
657969 18 17 B S S G Moorhouse Style Ted Collins
657973 18 17 B S S G
721071 18H 15 B S C O 80 P I
759542 18 B S S G
759593 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
759597 18 17 B S S G
759610 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
759631 18 17 B S SG Fred Hansen
759637 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
759657 18 17 B S S G 79 P I
759720 18 17 B S S G Ueberall
759740 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
759760 18 17 B S S G 77 P I
760503 18 17 B S S G Jones/Horan
761624 18 17 B S ?? Joel Sarich
761660 18 17 B S C O F Hansen
761682 18 17 B S S G Ueberall
761709 18 17 B S C O J. Sernake
761715 18 17 B S S G Henry B
761742 18 17 B S C O W C B HOLLOW ARABIC Hernick
761780 18 17 B S S G Fred Hansen
761781 18 17 B S H G Fred Hansen
761840 18 17 B S S G W C B C O Ebay
761845 18 17 B S C O W C B C O Bill Kapp
866973 18 17 B S S G Ueberall
Bill Kapp's Ball Hampden marked Ball's Standard Cleveland O.
Seller permitted me to use his photo's.
Joe Sernak sent me pics of his B S C O and gave permission to post them below.
Fred Hansen's Dial is pictured below
Hampden marked Superior Grade
Watch below is taken from Old Watch.com site, he describes the dial as a controversial Moorehouse!
Picture below was forwarded by Fred Hansen of a dial reported on a Hampden signed keywind # 94967. Looks like another Moorehouse?
Dial below is another Moorehouse style dial found on Bill Kapp's Ball Hampden
Hi Grade #410538, The Earliest known Ball Hampden reported to date.
Below is the back of the dial marked in pen is 8/28 and 9'C
Movement of 410538. This is one of 3 known marked Hi grade and the Earliest known reported serial number for a Ball Hampden marked movement.
Sold on ebay 11/29/08 for $2152 + 30 shipping
Picture under the Barrel bridge of a BSSG, courtesy of Eric Engh, no serial number, this is the 4 th example I have seen like this, apparantly Hampden filled early Ball private labels from existing stock and fitted them with new barrel bridges. The Barreit has the number scratched/etched on the barrel cover but not stamped. Barreit pix above and Garwood pix below courtesy of David Abbe. George Jones from the Jones and Horan auction team reports that # 454237 has no numbers under the barrel bridge! This is now the 5th such report! None are reported yet with serial numbers.
The Garwood has the number stamped as one would expect! The uneven spacing is typical. Numerals were individualy stamped and alignment was uneven. Guess it didn't matter as it wasn't meant to be viewed! I haven't seen any Ball's with the stamped bridge yet and other private labels are not consistent! Maybe it depended upon quantity or price. I believe that If a run was dedicated to a private label, it got the serial number, if existing stock was used then the barrel was replaced.
Earliest known Ball Ad ran from Feb to May in The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Journal 1890
Above ad ran in the Brotherhood journals from 7/90 well into 1891. I don't have copies of late 91 or any 92 journals so I am not sure when they stopped.
Simultaneously Dueber was running his own ads in the journals like the one below.
Much has been made of the fact that Dueber was not happy with Ball's claim to be a manufacturer but there was a time when the two men had a closer relationship.
Early in his career, Ball was employed By Dueber and when he started his business in Cleveland his first private label watches were manufactured by Hampden.
Interestingly enough the Ball's standard watches that I know to have survived all have Webb C Ball dials on them.
But when you look at Ad Cuts that both Dueber and Ball ran throughout 1890 and into 1891 in The BLE journal , it would seem that they both used pictures of an identical watch! (See the two ads above!!)
As far as I know, none of the surviving Ball Standard watches have the dial pictured in the ad.
They obviously cooperated on the Ad copy and maybe even the Ad cost. Many of the Ball Hampden Dial's were in the style of Moorhouse, an employee of Dueber in 1885 for a year, which suggests that the dials were provided by Hampden and not replaced by Ball. (I always wondered about those dials and Harold Visser pointed me to Gerrit Nijssen's OHara dial article in the Bulletin that documented Moorhouse's employment.)
And now for some further speculation!
There was an earlier Ball/Dueber AD! ( Scroll 3 pics up!!)
That earlier ad ran from Feb thru May 1890. Note the not so subtle difference! The earlier ads were weighted more in Dueber's favor than the ones appearing after July.
The earlier Ad is also more in keeping with other ads that Dueber ran in cooperation with other retailers such as G.A Schlecter, Reading Pa.
It is my calculation that Ball had ordered approximately 600 watches from Dueber, thus giving him a more favored status over other retailers, leading to the Ads that appeared from July onwards that gave Ball a more prominent presence.
So what do I think the reason might be for the eventual parting of the ways of Dueber and Ball?
When Rood and other prominent execs left Hampden to start up Hamilton, they called in their capital in Hampden forcing Hampden to shut down for a short time. They probably also had a personal relationship with Ball and invited him to participate in the new venture. Remember Ball was a VP early on in Hamilton's formation and had an exclusive agency for the western part of the US.
I surmise further that Ball might have been slightly overextended with Hampden at this time when Hampden needed to raise Capital to satisfy Rood et al.
This all occurred in the context of the Panic of 1893 when money was exceptionaly tight.
It wouldn't be the first "divorce" caused by money or the allure of a more attractive partner!
Ball Time line: information derived from Ohio Dept of Corporations, Bulletin Articles by Kent Singer & Ed Euberall(338), Winslow, jewelers Circular and posts by Jeff hess such as NAWCC Disc Ball Co's
75-79 employed by Deuber
79 Whitcomb/Ball
10/79 Webb C Ball
85 Bankrupt
90-91 (92?) Selling Ball's Standard Hampden watches
91 In Oct Ball forms stock co with 100000 capital and 5 investors.
92-93 Selling Brotherhood and Ball's Standard Howard watches
93-? Hamilton mfg Ball Standard and ORRS/Brotherhood watches
94-96 Stockholder and VP of Hamilton
Hampden time line
1891 Rood and Cain leave Hampden for Hamilton start up, Deuber cash strapped after buying them out had to suspend operations for a few weeks, raise additional capital and within 6-8 months had sole ownership.
1893 could be a pivotal year as there was a general economic collapse that history calls the" panic of 93".
Bulletin 234 p17 by Campbell/Fuller discuss Deubers dissatisfaction with Ball Ads that claim mfg status. They also mention that Ball had previously ceased buying Hampdens and future orders had gone to competitors. The ads cited were in 1901 but Ball had claimed mfg status all thru 1896 in the various brotherhood journals.