57,500 CHF
"The King of Bulgaria" Patek Philippe & Cie, Geneve, No. 83878, case No. 204109. Made in 1890. Very fine 18K gold and enamel keyless dress watch. Accompanied by the original Patek Philippe Certificate and fitted box bearing the Bulgarian Royal cypher. Four-body, "bassine", polished, the hinged back cover decorated with the cypher of King Ferdinand I of Bulgariabeneath a crown and within an oval red translucent guilloche enamel reserve. Hinged gold cuvette. White enamel, radial Roman numerals, outer minute track and outer Arabic five minute markers, subsidiaryseconds. Blued steel "spade" hands. Notes Ferdinand Maximilan Charles Leopold Marie, Ferdinand of Bulgaria (1861-1948) T T he son of Augustus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1818-81) and his wife Clémentine of Orléans (1817-1907) and a grand-nephew of Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Ferdinand was born in Vienna, initially with the title Duke of Saxony, later succeeding his father as Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He was proclaimed Prince Regnant of autonomous Bulgaria on July 7, 1887 in the Gregorian calendar (the "New Style" used hereinafter), ten months after the abdication of his predecessor Prince Alexander. Bulgaria's domestic political life was dominated during the early years of his reign by liberal party leader Stefan Stambolov, whose foreign policy saw a marked cooling in relations with Russia, formerly seen as Bulgaria's protector. Ferdinand married Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bourbon-Parma. The
Auctioneer:
Antiquorum
Date:
2005-05-15
