Lincoln’s English gold watch was purchased in the 1850s from George Chatterton, a Springfield, Illinois, jeweler. Lincoln was not outwardly vain, but the fine gold watch was a conspicuous symbol of his success as a prominent Illinois lawyer.
The National Museum of American History acquired the watch in 1958 as a gift from Lincoln Isham, Abraham Lincoln great-grandson.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.