Titanic passenger's watch sells for record £1.78m at auction
A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of one of the Titanic's richest passengers has fetched a record-breaking
£1. 78m at auction. Hundreds of passengers were killed when the ship traveling from Southampton to New York sank after hitting an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Isidor Straus and his wife Ida were among the more than 1,500 people killed. His body was recovered from the Atlantic days after the disaster, and he had an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch among his possessions. On Saturday, Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, sold the watch, which had remained in Mr and Mrs Straus' family.
Mr Straus, a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy's department store in New York, was born in Ba On the night of the sinking, it is believed his faithful wife refused a lifeboat because she did not want to leave her husband and said she would rather die by his side. Ida Straus' body was never discovered. Mrs Straus' letter on Titanic stationery and published while onboard the ship, which was built in Belfast, sold for £100,000 at the auction. A Titanic passenger list was purchased for £104,000, while a gold medal was given to the RMS Carpathia crew by rescued survivors sold for £86,000. In total, the auction of Titanic-related memorabilia raised £3 million.
Repaired and restored
At 02:20, the Titanic's disappeared beneath the waves at 02:19. It is thought to have been a 43rd birthday gift from Ida Straus to her husband in 1888 and is engraved with Straus' initials. It was returned to his family and passed down through generations before Kenneth Hollister Straus, Isidor's great-grandson, had the movement rebuilt and restored.
'Ultimate love story'
The world record price
for the watch
auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.illustrates the enduring fascination in the Titanic story,
he said.Every man, woman, and child passenger or crew had a tale to tell, and they were told 113 years later through the memorabilia,
Agold pocket watch was presented to the captain of the Carpathia, the steamship that saved more than 700 Titanic survivors, last year for a then record-breaking £1. 56m.The Strauses were the ultimate love tale, with Ida refusing to leave her husband of 41 years as the Titanic sank, and this world record price is testament to the esteem in which they were held.
