One of the greatest tragedies to occur at sea happened on April 15th in 1912: the sinking of esteemed luxury passenger liner the RMS Titanic. The Titanic was one of the most magnificent ships of its time, and still would be to this day. As the Titanic was a very prestigious ship, so were much of the possessions and things on it, that have sold at auction for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars. The high value for these items only confirms the significance of that event.
Even more shocking about the sinking was that the Titanic was deemed to be unsinkable by its designers and constructors. This was only partly true; the Titanic was capable of still floating, even while four of its compartments were completely flooded. But on the night of April 14th 1912, the Titanic collided with the infamous iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean that ripped open five of the compartments, and water flowed inside relentlessly. In other words, the great vessel was doomed the moment it hit the iceberg, and this was confirmed as soon as the fifth compartment began to flood with water. Since there were not enough lifeboats to even hold half of the people on board, over fifteen hundred people died in the disaster.
Much of the memorabilia that we will look at here sold on April 15th, 2012, the one hundred year anniversary of the Titanic sinking. This memorabilia is also rare and expensive all on its own, regardless of whether it was a part of the Titanic sinking. But because it was a part of the sinking, the value of these items skyrocketed immensely. Without any further ado, here are the ten most expensive Titanic memorabilia sold at auction.
10 Captain Edward John Smith Cigar Box - $40,000
Edward John Smith was the Captain of the Titanic. This item was auctioned off in 2012, in Liverpool, Great Britain. It is widely regarded to be one of the rarest finds of the Titanic, and there are probably very few cigar boxes in history that would sell for forty thousand dollars. This cigar box was highly sought after. It was designed to hold forty of the highest quality Havana cigars within it, and was made out of camphor wood, engraved with the initials of Captain Edward John Smith.
9 First Deck Plan - $49,000
This plan for the Titanic sold for just over $49,000 at auction in the United Kingdom. This is currently one of only three known Titanic deck plans that are known to exist. It was given to a couple who boarded the Titanic when it first disembarked from the United Kingdom.
This life jacket was discovered at the wreckage site of the Titanic, by a member of a search party who was sent to search for casualties and anything else at the wreckage site. The jacket is not in good condition at all, being torn apart and stained with oil and blood and yet, it still managed to sell for $55,000. If anybody can find a life jacket, old or new, and in any condition, that could sell for more than fifty-five grand, they just might make it into the record books. Not only is this most likely the most expensive life jacket to be ever sold at auction, it’s also among the most expensive Titanic memorabilia ever sold as well. It’s unknown how this life jacket was torn off of the individual who originally had it, but it most likely happened while the individual jumped off the titanic and into the sea. All in all, there are only six Titanic life jackets that are still in existence, and each one is extremely valuable. Another of the life jackets is currently on display at a museum in Massachusetts, USA.
7 Photo Archive - $100,000
Many images were taken in the middle of that disastrous night on the Titanic, but one of the most striking is a photo of the iceberg that was believed to have struck the Titanic. This particular iceberg had red paint smeared alongside the bottom of it from the red paint on the Titanic’s hull, which is why many people suspect that this was the iceberg that caused the tragedy. It is also the only photo of that iceberg in existence and was taken just mere days after the tragedy, and sold in 2012 for just over $100,000, making it also one of the most expensive photographs ever sold of all time.
6 Menu - $125,000
This menu for the last meal that was ever served in the Titanic was auctioned off for just under $125,000. The menu was actually not discovered from the site of the wreckage but from a survivor who had the menu stored in her handbag. The menu is dated April 14, 1912.
5 Cabin Master Keys - $138,000
These keys were the master keys owned by a first class steward, named Edmund Stone, for a series of cabins. Stone perished along with the fifteen hundred others during the sinking, but the keys were recovered off of his body later, and returned to his wife back in the United Kingdom. They were auctioned off for just a little over $138,000, in 2008.
These crow’s nest keys fetched even more at auction than the cabin’s mater keys, at approximately $147,000. The key was left behind in the ship and opened a box that held a pair of binoculars inside of it, that the lookout used to scan the ocean from the crow’s nest.
3 Steward’s Pocket Watch - $154,000
This pocket watch was also owned by Edmund Stone, the first class steward who also owned the master keys to the first class cabin. This watch is unique because the hands on the watch stopped at exactly 2:16, meaning that was also the same moment that Edmund Stone was sent into the frigid Atlantic waters. It was sold at auction in 2008, for $154,000 and it set a record price for Titanic memorabilia to be sold.
2 Ship Plan - $362,000
This ship plan to the Titanic measures thirty-two feet long and sold for just under $362,000 in the United Kingdom. It was built by a Naval Architect at the White Star Line, and even though it isn't the most expensive out of all of the memorabilia on this list, it is considered to be the most important.
1 Diamond Bracelet Collection - $200 million
This is not one single piece of memorabilia, but rather a collection that when added up, all sold for around two hundred million dollars. There were very many wealthy and famous people on board the Titanic, and with them came rare, valuable pieces of jewelry. Many of these precious jewels were recovered at the site of the wreck, and were the highlight of many of the auction events. The most impressive piece out of the collection was a diamond bracelet, which belonged to one of the deceased passengers of the tragedy and was recovered by an expedition team in 1987; two years after the remains of the Titanic were first discovered at the bottom of the sea. The diamond bracelet has the name “Amy” engraved upon it. There were only two passengers with the name of Amy on the Titanic, so it’s assumed that the diamond bracelet belonged to one of them.
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“We have world exclusive rights to the violin. It was found on the bandmaster's body a few weeks after the sinking and it also holds the world record for the highest price ever paid for a Titanic artifact at $1.7 million,” Said Jodi Justus, Titanic Museum Attraction.
Appraisers have valued the Titanic items at $200 million. The salvage rights to the ship are also being sold. Clearly, interest in the tragedy among members of the public, collectors, and museums remains strong. A cracker from the ship sold for $23,000 last year.
Extremely valuable items that went down with Titanic include fine paintings and handwritten manuscripts, lavish jewels and luxury cars. There were even some illegal drugs on board. These priceless artifacts are no doubt lost forever. But who knows what you might find submerged in the North Atlantic?
Many artifacts have been recovered from the wreckage but countless items from the Titanic tragedy are still sitting at the bottom of the sea, slowly deteriorating from corrosion, oceanic eddies, and undercurrents.
Perfect for the collector on a budget. Now everyone can own a piece of the Titanic! This is a small thin slice of authentic pine wreckwood believed to be from the deck (look here). It was found floating in the sea by the CS Minia crew.
A satchel of jewels found among the wreckage of Titanic during a salvage and recovery expedition near Newfoundland in 1985 might have been his. A blue sapphire ring mounted in a setting surrounded by 14 diamonds, and a gold locket were just two pieces found among the wreckage.
Five days after the passenger ship the Titanic sank, the crew of the rescue ship Mackay-Bennett pulled the body of a fair-haired, roughly 2-year-old boy out of the Atlantic Ocean on April 21, 1912.
You probably already knew that Jack and Rose, the main characters in the 1997 movie Titanic, weren't real. Like all films “based on a true story,” the movie added its own fictional elements to historical events.
The leather satchel was opened to reveal jewelry, a watch, wads of American currency and an object--possibly a stickpin case--with the initials “R.L.B.” It apparently belonged to Richard L. Beckwith, a first-class passenger who escaped the sinking ship on a lifeboat with his wife.
That means it likely broke off from Greenland in 1910 or 1911, and was gone forever by the end of 1912 or sometime in 1913. In all likelihood, the iceberg that sank the Titanic didn't even endure to the outbreak of World War I, a lost splash of freshwater mixed in imperceptibly with the rest of the North Atlantic.
The state of those bodies would depend on how exposed to currents of oxygenated water — and the deep-sea scavengers that thrive on it — they were over the years. "Decomposition slows if bodies get cut off from the open sea, reducing oxygen levels and scavengers," says William J. Broad in The New York Times.
Although the painting did exist at the time of the Titanic, it was never aboard – and it never sank with the ship. But the biggest controversy has come from the use of Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Many people have questioned if this painting actually sank with the Titanic. Not so.
This is a myth in the case of the Titanic, although in 1917 the White Star liner Laurentic was sunk off the coast of Northern Ireland carrying 35 tons of gold ingots.
Introduction. After the Titanic sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, hundreds of the survivors, families of victims, and owners of cargo filed claims against the White Star Line for loss of life, property, and for injuries sustained. Their claims totaled $16.4 million.
In 1994, the company RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions, became the wreck's salvor-in-possession—the only company allowed to collect artifacts. The company has now collected more than 5,500 artifacts, including a 17-ton section of the hull that was raised out of the ocean in 1998.
La Circassienne au Bain, also known as Une Baigneuse, was a large Neoclassical oil painting from 1814 by Merry-Joseph Blondel depicting a life-sized young Circassian woman bathing in an idealized setting from classical antiquity. The painting was destroyed with the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
The Heart of the Ocean in the Titanic film is not a real piece of jewellery, but is hugely popular nonetheless. The jewellery is, however, based on a real diamond, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond. The Hope Diamond is one of the world's most valuable diamonds; its worth is estimated at around 350 million dollars.
The majority of the 700-plus steerage passengers on the Titanic were emigrants. Only 25 percent of the Titanic's third-class passengers survived, and of that 25 percent, only a fraction were men. By contrast, about 97 percent of first-class women survived the sinking of the Titanic.
Sharks were unlikely to be involved due to the extreme depth and low temperatures at the bottom of the North Atlantic. The debate as to whether there are still any bodies inside the wreck itself is undecided by the experts. The man who originally discovered the Titanic wreck, Dr. Robert D.
Jenny was the name of the ship's cat aboard Titanic & was mentioned in the accounts of several of the crew members who survived the ocean liner's fateful 1912 maiden voyage. She was transferred from Titanic's sister ship Olympic & gave birth in the week before Titanic left Southampton.
Rose then throws the necklace off the Keldysh, just above the Titanic. By throwing the necklace into the Atlantic ocean, Rose finally lets go, because she is ready to make peace with Jack and the other Titanic victims; she is finally ready to move on.
People have been diving down to the Titanic's wreckage for around 35 years. But so far, no one has found human remains, the company that owns rights to the wreckage says. Now the company, RMS Titanic Inc., is planning for a new expedition that is raising concerns.
But what of Titanic's dead? Most of the more than 1,500 victims were lost to the North Atlantic. Crews aboard four recovery vessels pulled just 337 bodies out of the water.
It was found in 1668 in India. After being circulated through the French nobility, it was stolen and disappeared, later to be found in England. However, the stunning piece of jewelry is surrounded with myths and superstitions.
What happened to the bodies? 125 of the bodies were buried at sea, due either to their severe damage, advanced decomposition, or a simple lack of resources (lack of enough embalming fluid). 209 other bodies were transported for burial in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
READ MORE: Why Did the Titanic Sink? Efforts to locate and salvage the Titanic began almost immediately after it sank. But technical limitations—as well as the sheer vastness of the North Atlantic search area—made it extremely difficult. American oceanographer and former Navy officer Robert D.
Oceanographers have pointed out that the hostile sea environment has wreaked havoc on the ship's remains after more than a century beneath the surface. Saltwater acidity has been dissolving the vessel, compromising its integrity to the point where much of it would crumble if tampered with.
Thanks to radar technology, better education for mariners and iceberg monitoring systems, ship collisions with icebergs are generally avoidable, but the results can still be disastrous when they occur. "These things are very rare. It's one of those risks that are low frequency but high impact.
The second study, by British historian Tim Maltin, claimed that atmospheric conditions on the night of the disaster might have caused a phenomenon called super refraction. This bending of light could have created mirages, or optical illusions, that prevented the Titanic's lookouts from seeing the iceberg clearly.
John Jacob Astor was the wealthiest passenger aboard Titanic. He was the head of the Astor family, with a personal fortune of approximately $150,000,000. Born on 13 July 1864 to William Astor, he was educated at St.
No. The idea that the ship should have maintained its course and rammed into the iceberg head-on to minimize damages is far from plausible and is also scientifically inaccurate.
Jack sketches while Rose lies nude on a couch inside her suite. DiCaprio, however, despite his many talents, did not actually draw the portrait. Director James Cameron did, according to Moviefone.com. No matter who created the sketch, no one could deny its importance in framing the movie.
Collective value of recovered jewels: $200 million (£143.6m)
Recovery operations have produced an abundance of precious treasures that were abandoned as the ship began to collapse, including one particularly valuable trinket.
This is a myth in the case of the Titanic, although in 1917 the White Star liner Laurentic was sunk off the coast of Northern Ireland carrying 35 tons of gold ingots.
John Jacob Astor was the wealthiest passenger aboard Titanic. He was the head of the Astor family, with a personal fortune of approximately $150,000,000. Born on 13 July 1864 to William Astor, he was educated at St.
The Heart of the Ocean in the Titanic film is not a real piece of jewellery, but is hugely popular nonetheless. The jewellery is, however, based on a real diamond, the 45.52-carat Hope Diamond. The Hope Diamond is one of the world's most valuable diamonds; its worth is estimated at around 350 million dollars.
In 1994, the company RMS Titanic Inc., a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions, became the wreck's salvor-in-possession—the only company allowed to collect artifacts. The company has now collected more than 5,500 artifacts, including a 17-ton section of the hull that was raised out of the ocean in 1998.
The leather satchel was opened to reveal jewelry, a watch, wads of American currency and an object--possibly a stickpin case--with the initials “R.L.B.” It apparently belonged to Richard L. Beckwith, a first-class passenger who escaped the sinking ship on a lifeboat with his wife.
Although the painting did exist at the time of the Titanic, it was never aboard – and it never sank with the ship. But the biggest controversy has come from the use of Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Many people have questioned if this painting actually sank with the Titanic. Not so.
La Circassienne au Bain, also known as Une Baigneuse, was a large Neoclassical oil painting from 1814 by Merry-Joseph Blondel depicting a life-sized young Circassian woman bathing in an idealized setting from classical antiquity. The painting was destroyed with the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
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