Practical Meets Pretty

January 20th, 2012 |

When doing a complete inventory of a collection, we often find objects that are difficult to identify without additional context. Recently we discovered a small box containing intricately hand painted pieces of paper and cloth. All were roughly the same size (2 inches in diameter) and were decorated only on one side. After some research, we found that the pieces were watch papers, circular pieces that were inserted into pocket watches to ward off dirt and debris that could clog the watch’s mechanism.

Usually watch papers were inserted by a watch maker or repairer and served a dual purpose when printed with advertisements for watch services. (You can view many excellent examples through the British Museum’s Collections and Prints Database.) Our watch papers are different in that they are all hand painted. One collection is believed to have been made by either Charles Beitel or his father, Josiah Beitel, a clock maker from Nazareth, Pa. Others may have been hand painted by students of the Ladies Seminary here in Bethlehem. They all date from the first half of the 1800s.

Several directly depict mourning scenes and contain messages of loss.