Em tempos de pandemia - Patek Philippe em leilão recorda a peste bubónica, a febre amarela e a Gripe Espanhola

Relógio de bolso Patek Philippe, cronógrafo rattrapante, repetição minutos que vai à praça a 9 de Junho em leilão da Heritage Auctions. O curioso é que foi prenda da comunidade de São Franisco ao cirurgião Rupert Blue, pelo seu papel no controlo do surto de peste bubónica ocorrido na cidade em 1905, da vaga de febre amarela em Nova Orleans em 1907 e da Gripe Espanhola em todos os Estados Unidos, em 1918.

Do catálogo:

A Patek Philippe, Very Fine & Historically Important Minute Repeating Split Seconds Chronograph With Register Presented By The Citizens Of San Francisco To Surgeon General Rupert Blue, Circa 1908, Recent Full Factory Service (opening bid: $30,000) is housed in an 18k four-body case with an invisible hinge. The white enamel dial features Arabic numerals, gold Louis XV hands, a 30-minute register at 12, a subsidiary seconds track with red numerals, and outer fifth second marks and red five second numerals. The case is signed with Patek Philippe hallmarks, the movement is signed by Patek Philippe & Cie and Shreve & Co., and the dial signed Shreve & Co. The dust cover of this important timepiece is engraved “To Rupert Blue P.A. Surgeon, U.S.P.H. and M.H.S. from the citizens of San Francisco. In grateful recognition of services rendered the city while in command of the Sanitation Campaign of 1908." Blue served with the Marine Hospital Service Regular Corps, which later became the Public Health Service. He received honors for his work to eradicate the Bubonic plague in San Francisco in 1905 and in the eradication of yellow fever in New Orleans in 1907, and guided the United States through the Spanish influenza pandemic in 1918.

Rupert Blue