Mid-19th-century Watch Paper

St. Clairsville, Ohio: J. H. Williams, Watch Maker. Jewelry, Watch and Fancy Store, 1854. Very good. Watch paper; 1 3/4 inch in diameter; text in various fancy fonts to recto; manuscript note to verso; a bit of age-toning and minor foxing; several tiny nicks to edges; in very good condition.Watch papers, popular in the 18th- and 19th- centuries, were round paper disks, placed between the inner and outer cases of pocket watches to protect their inner workings. While most were engraved and illustrated and featured business names and advertisements for watchmakers, some were letterpress printed and a few were hand-drawn. There were also entirely hand-made ones, which were often created by young women - to be given to their sweethearts as proof of affection - and which were to be kept in the latter's watches, close to their hearts. The verso was often used to record repairs, over the life of the timepiece. This particular one advertised the services of J. H. Williams, Watchmaker, with a small manuscript name of the original owner of the watch and a date to verso - "Allen Dorsey / April 8, 1854." Though research has revealed little, it seems Williams might have also been a bookseller and a printer at one point in his career.