The Mystery of Alexander Hamilton’s Bank Clock

On a spring day in 1858, the president of the New York Historical Society shared a letter from another New York institution offering an unusual donation from the Bank of New York: an elaborate clock. To convince his fellow members of the storied history of the bank and, by association, the clock, the president singled out one man from the bank’s original board. “Among the directors,” said the president, “Was General [Alexander] Hamilton, another immortal name, whose genius has stamped its impression on the political events of that momentous and memorable era.” The Historical Society welcomed the clock to its collection.

A hundred years passed—enough time for a fairy tale to cook. A legend grew around the clock. A subsequent director of the Historical Society referred to it as the Hamilton clock. The story, like a father bestowing a pocket watch to his firstborn. Whether he really did remains an unsolved mystery.