A watch that was melted during the August 6, 1945, atomic bombing of Hiroshima has sold for more than $31,000 at auction, the Associated Press reported.
Its arrows stopped at the moment of the detonation of the atomic bomb over the Japanese city – at 8:15 a.m. local time, according to the organizers of the auction from the Boston auction house RR Auction. It was purchased for $31,113 by a customer who preferred to remain anonymous.
The watch was discovered amid the rubble after the Hiroshima attack by a British soldier on a mission to secure emergency supplies and assess the city’s reconstruction needs, auction organizers said.
The lot was offered at the auction along with other historically significant items. Among them was a check signed by George Washington – one of only two known checks signed by him as President of the United States ever offered at auction. It sold for US$135,472. A copy of the Little Red Book signed by Mao Zedong has sold for US$250,000.
Illustrative Photo by Armin Forster: https://www.pexels.com/photo/the-ruin-of-hiroshima-prefectural-industrial-promotion-hall-in-hiroshima-japan-6489033/