Expensive Watch Found.... How Do I Go About Selling It Legally

[piggynose]

I´ll cut to the chase. Whilst on holiday in Ireland i visited a cousin i hadnt seen for years. she works on a farm, but has managed to collect a lot of stuff from skips over years.shes kept, and other stuff shes cleaned up and sold. well she reckons shes hit big about a month ago, by finding a patek phillipe diamond watch, valued at 28,000 euros. trouble is how can she sell it, without any documentation? eg receipts

[Marijn]

Has she taken it to the police station first, and it hasn't been claimed?

[bookbinder]

I've seen people sell stuff, on 'Flog it!', that they said they found in skips, and they didn't have any documentation. Maybe her best plan might be to take it to an auctioneer and ask his advice.

[piggynose]

flog it is for antiques, this isnt all that old i´ll mention about the auctioneer to her

thanx

[2sp_]

I'm with Marijn. I would have thought the first thing to do was hand it into the police. If it's not claimed by the owner your cousin will get it back.

Then it's hers to do what she likes with.

[237SJ]

If it isn`t all that old it should be registered with Patek Philipe so I would have thought any self-respecting auctioneer would want to check there first.

[magsmay]

Don't expensive watches all have numbers on them? If you contacted the maker they would probably have some idea of the owner -then you could give it back and probably get a reward or at least so the right thing.

[Marijn]

Thanks 2sp. Anything I've ever taken to the police station has not been claimed and it's been given back to me after 3 months. Then I can keep it with a clean conscience. I'm sure no-one would chuck away their expensive watch on purpose. You get a receipt from the police station too; and your cousin could use that, perhaps, to show the potential buyers that it's not stolen.

[FredPuli43]

Legally here, and, no doubt, in the Republic of Ireland (since it is a common law country), the finder is expected to take reasonable steps to find the owner. This requirement is satisfied by taking it to the local police station and waiting for it to be claimed , or not. It being unclaimed, you are regarded as having taken reasonable steps and have then got good title to it and can do with it what you wish

[237SJ]

Did she get it valued or has she just looked at comparable ones on the internet? There`s a big market in fake watches.

[daffy654]

Where did your cousin find the watch?
As all watches from Patek Philippe have a serial number it should be very easy to trace who it belonged to. Your cousin might be prosecuted for theft by finding if she doesn't hand it to the police.

[Kleiber]

Unless your cousin reports the find to the police, there's not much chance of her selling it legally. More chance of getting done for handling stolen goods, I'd say!

[heathfield]

Although we hear of little in the way of prosecutions, I've always understood that removing anything from a skip without the permission of the person who owned it is theft.

[daffy654]

I've just asked my oh (works in a jewellers) and he said that no reputable jeweller would buy it from her without documentation, nor would an auction house sell it. It would have to be a private sale and no certificate drastically lowers the value.

[sara3]

"theft by finding" is a criminal offence. it should be handed in to the police

[sara3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding

[Sharingan]

There are 2 questions really- the first being is it actually real or a fake?
The second is how do you deal with the potential 'theft by finding' problem. I would suggest that since it's an item of high value and might go missing at the police station if it's not claimed that she telephone the local police and tells them she's found a watch without being too specific. They might well log it and not ask her to take it in as they did with me when I found a ring ( that was in the UK though). If after the set amount of time it's not claimed then it will be hers legitimately and she can register as the new owner here and get her documentation and authentication, thus getting a better price. Alternatively if it worth £28,000 you might find it's real owner has a reward for it.
http://www.patek.com/contents/default/en/home.html

[woofgang]

register with who? If Patek has the information of who the real owner is, I would think that they might have a view about a new owner popping up who "found it in a skip" The finder might also want to confirm that it hasn't been stolen.

[jake-the-peg]

28,000 euros is a very specific amount if we take this at face value (and I don't) makes it sound as if she had it valued.

Think is Pateks are *hugely* faked - if it were an IWC or a Vacheron Constantin might sound slightly more credible although these are faked too.

Did she have it valued or did she look up a similar one on E-bay?

Because of the gigantic number of fakes I doubt anybody would buy it without papers even if it is genuine -would you buy a 28,000 euro car without paperwork?

I suggest she takes it to a reputable dealer if she hasn't already but I'd be amazed if it were genuine

Sure she's not pulling you leg for a bit of fun?

[joko]

if it was in a skip id imagine it was a fake.

who would throw a valuable watch in a skip - and who would fill a skip with crap wearing a 28,000 watch?

and if they did and realised it was gone, surely they'd look in the skip - chances are the skip is outside the house of the person who owns the watch.

or its a cheap fake that someone has tossed in an angry reaction to finding out its fake.

[237SJ]

I remember when my friend`s husband found a Cartier after a 'do' in his Army mess. He was so excited until he found it was fake. Then again, there was that drain cleaning guy who found a solid gold Rolex down a drain and it turned out to be real so it does happen.