An American buyer wins the bidding war, beating — by more than 10 times — pre-sale estimates.
A gold watch found on the body of the Titanic's richest passenger has been sold at auction in the United Kingdom for 1.17 million pounds ($1.46 million), a record sum ever paid for an item linked to the famous 1912 shipping disaster.
The watch, engraved with the initials JJA after US-based businessman John Jacob Astor, was sold on Saturday by auction house Henry Aldridge & Son.
An American buyer won the bidding war, exceeding — by more than 10 times — the pre-sale estimate of £100,000 to £150,000 ($126,000 to $189,500).
A used first-class menu from the first night aboard the Titanic sold yesterday at British auction house Henry Aldridge & Son for $100,000.
The pocket watch found on second-class passenger Sinai Kantor was sold for $122,000. pic.twitter.com/ynF0UIt7I9
– Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 12, 2023
Astor was 47 when he died during the sinking of the Titanic in the early hours of April 15, 1912, one of 1,500 people on board who died. He was reputed to be one of the richest men in the world at that time.
He died after helping his wife, Madeleine, into a lifeboat. She survived the disaster.
Astor's body was found a week after the disaster, with the watch among his personal belongings. A statement issued by the auction house said that the watch was fully restored after it was returned to the Astor family and worn by his son.
In November 2023, a pocket watch recovered from the body of passenger Sinai Kantor, 34, a Russian migrant who died in the disaster, was also sold by the same auction house in the United Kingdom for £97,000 ($118,700).
A rare menu from the ill-fated ship's first-class restaurant that showed what most wealthy passengers ate for dinner on April 11, 1912 — three days before the ship struck the iceberg that caused it to sink into the Atlantic Ocean — has sold for £83,000 ($101,600).
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