Babe Ruth’s World Series Championship Pocket Watch Expected To Fetch $750,000 at Auction

Looking to own a piece of baseball history? Babe Ruth‘s 1923 World Series championship pocket watch, crafted from 14-carat gold, is being sold at a New York City auction next month. The rare timepiece, which had been presumed lost, is expected to fetch an astounding $750,000 during its Heritage Auction sale on Feb. 22.

“No one knew where the piece had been,” Chris Ivy, director of sports auctions, told the Associated Press. “No one has ever seen it for public sale or public auction,” Ivy said. “The fact that there was no news about it for so many decades, it was just thought that at some point it had been lost to time.”

Shortly before Ruth’s death in 1948, he gave the watch to his friend Charles Schwefel, who later gifted it to his nephew, Lewis Fern. In 1988, Fern sold it to a prominent east coast sports collector, who kept it locked away in a safe deposit box ever since. Though the present owner of the timepiece wishes to remain anonymous, he said that he purchased the watch for around $200,000 and is currently selling it at auction to help fund various charitable organizations.