A watch that melted during the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945, was sold for over $31,000 at an auction. The watch stopped at the moment of the atomic bomb explosion over the Japanese city, which occurred at 8:15 AM, marking the moment when an American airplane dropped the atomic bomb during the final days of World War II. The winning bid at the auction, which ended on Thursday, was $31,113. The watch represents a glimpse of the enormous destruction caused by the first atomic bomb detonated over the city.
According to the auction house, the seller claimed that a British soldier retrieved the wristwatch from the rubble of the city while carrying out a mission to provide emergency supplies and assess the reconstruction needs in Hiroshima. Among other items featured in the auction was a signed copy of “The Little Red Book” by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, which sold for $250,000; a signed document from George Washington, one of two known signed documents by the President, which fetched $135,473; and a checklist used for preparing the lunar module for Apollo 11, which sold for $76,533, according to the auction house.
