“The watch of the captain of the steamship, which saved the passengers of the Titanic, was sold at an auction for a record priceTiffany & Co. gold watch. Captain Rostron, who saved 705 passengers of the Titanic, was sold for 1.56 million pounds. This is the largest amount ever paid for memorabilia related to the ship.”, — write on: unn.ua
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Auctioneers said it was the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia. The buyer was a private collector from the USA.
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 pounds (almost 1.5 million dollars).
On April 14, 1912, during the fatal collision of the liner with an iceberg, the 47-year-old Astor helped his pregnant wife Madeleine into a lifeboat, then smoked his last cigarette, realizing that he would not survive.
The watch, sold now, was given to steamship captain Arthur Rostron by Madeleine Astor and two other widows of businessmen who perished with the Titanic. Rostron commanded the RMS Carpathia, a transatlantic passenger liner of the Cunard Line company, which picked up 705 people from the lifeboats of the Titanic.
On an 18-karat Tiffany & Co. watch. engraved inscription: “Presented to Captain Rostron with sincere gratitude from the three survivors of the Titanic on 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 given 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, thanks to which 700 people were able to survive. Without his actions, this would not have happened.
He also added that the sale of the watch demonstrated the continued fascination with the Titanic story.
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 pounds (about 1.4 million dollars).
That the record has been broken twice in the past year is a sign of “constantly decreasing supply and increasing demand” for items related to the ship. Auctioneers note that prices for artifacts from the “Titanic” are increasing “in geometric progression.”
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