Titanic gold pocket watch recovered from aged couple who drowned in catastrophe sells for document £1.78million at public sale – virtually double what was anticipated
A gold pocket watch once owned by an elderly couple who drowned in the Titanic disaster has sold for an astonishing £1.78million – smashing auction estimates and setting a new world record for Titanic memorabilia.
Auctioneers confirmed it eclipsed the previous £1.56million record set last year for a gold watch presented to the captain of the ship that rescued more than 700 survivors.
The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen engraved watch was owned by first-class passenger Isidor Straus, whose tragic story with his wife, Ida, became one of the defining legends of the 1912 catastrophe, which killed 1,500 people.
The couple were portrayed in James Cameron‘s 1997 blockbuster film Titanic as the couple cradling each other as the Titanic goes down.
The watch was recovered from the body of Mr Straus along with other personal effects and returned to his family. Mrs Sraus’s body was never found after the tragedy.
He had originally received it in 1888 for his 43rd birthday – the same year he became a partner in New York’s famed department store, Macy’s.
During the night of the sinking, the wealthy couple made their way to the Titanic’s boat deck but Mr Straus refused a seat on a lifeboat, insisting he would not leave while younger men remained onboard.
During the night of the sinking, the wealthy couple made their way to the Titanic’s boat deck but Mr Straus refused a seat on a lifeboat, insisting he would not leave while younger men remained onboard
The watch was sold for £1.78million. In total, the auction of Titanic-related memorabilia reached £3million
Mrs Straus famously declined to leave her husband, and the pair were last seen sitting together on deckchairs as the ship went down.
They were among very few first-class passengers to perish in the disaster.
The watch, which stayed in the family for generations before Kenneth Hollister Straus, Mr Straus’s great-grandson, had the movement repaired and restored.
The watchwas sold by Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.
A letter written by Mrs Straus on Titanic stationery fetched £100,000, while a passenger list sold for £104,000 and a gold medal awarded to RMS Carpathia crew members reached £86,000.
In total, the auction of Titanic-related memorabilia reached £3million.
In the letter, written on Titanic-headed notepaper to a family friend, she described the magnificence and luxury of the then biggest liner in the world.
She wrote: ‘What a ship! So huge and so magnificently appointed. Our rooms are furnished in the best of taste and most luxurious.’
She then referenced the ‘New York’ incident where Titanic almost collided with the moored liner the SS New York as it left Southampton.
Mrs Straus said: ‘Size seems to bring its troubles. Mr Straus, who was on deck when the start was made, said at one time it looked painfully near to the repetitions of the Olympic’s experience on her first trip out of harbour, but the danger was soon averted, and we are now well on our course across the channel to Cherbourg.’
The couple were portrayed in James Cameron ‘s 1997 blockbuster film Titanic as the couple cradling each other as the Titanic goes down
The Titanic is pictured leaving Belfast with two guiding tugs visible – there were five tugs in total
The letter is postmarked ‘TransAtlantic 7’ meaning it was franked on board in the Titanic’s post office before being taken off with other mail at Queenstown, Ireland.
Born into a Jewish family in Otterberg, Bavaria, in 1845, Mr Straus emigrated to the US with his family in 1854.
In January 1912, he and his wife travelled on RMS Caronia to Jerusalem before returning to the US via Southampton on the Titanic.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: ‘The world record price illustrates the enduring interest in the Titanic story.
‘Every man, woman and child passenger or crew had a story to tell and they are told 113 years later through the memorabilia.
‘The Strauses were the ultimate love story, Ida refusing to leave her husband of 41 years as the Titanic sank, and this world record price is testament to the respect that they are held in.’
