The watch of the ship's captain who saved the passengers of the Titanic was sold at auction for a record price
Kyiv • UNN
Tiffany & Co. gold watch of Captain Rostron, who saved 705 passengers of the Titanic, was sold for 1.56 million pounds. This is the largest amount ever paid for ship-related memorabilia.
A gold pocket watch presented to the captain of the ship that rescued more than 700 passengers from the Titanic has been sold for a record £1.56 million. The Guardian, writes UNN.
Details
Auctioneers noted that this is the largest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia. The buyer was a private collector from the United States.
The previous record was set in April this year, when a gold pocket watch found on the body of American millionaire John Jacob Astor, the richest man on board the Titanic, was sold for £1.175 million (almost $1.5 million).
On April 14, 1912, during the fatal collision of the liner with an iceberg, 47-year-old Astor helped his pregnant wife Madeleine into a lifeboat, after which he smoked his last cigarette, realizing that he would not survive.
The watch, now sold, was given to the ship's captain, Arthur Rostron, by Madeleine Astor and two other widows of businessmen who perished with the Titanic. Rostron was in command of the RMS Carpathia, a transatlantic passenger ship of the Cunard Line that picked up 705 people from the Titanic's lifeboats.
The 18-carat watch by Tiffany & Co. is engraved with the inscription: “Presented to Captain Rostron with the sincere gratitude of three survivors of the Titanic April 15, 1912: Mrs. John B. Thayer, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, and Mrs. George D. Widener”.
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According to the auction house, the watch was handed over to Rostron during a lunch at the Astor family estate on Fifth Avenue in New York.
Artem Rostron received this gift primarily as a sign of gratitude for his courage, which allowed 700 people to survive. Without his actions, this would not have happened,
He also added that the sale of the watch demonstrated the ongoing fascination with the history of the Titanic.
The record for the highest amount paid for Titanic artifacts was held for 11 years by a violin played during the sinking of the ship. In 2013, it was sold for £1.1 (about $1.4 million).
The fact that this record has been broken twice in the last year indicates a “steadily decreasing supply and growing demand” for ship-related items. Auctioneers note that prices for Titanic artifacts are growing “exponentially.
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