Ten most expensive items of Titanic memorabilia On the 99th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic, Wikicollecting.org takes a look at the ten most expensive items of Titanic memorabilia...
A pocket-watch which belonged to Titanic First Class Steward, Edmund Stone, was sold by Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in October 2008 for £94,000.
The hands and movement on the watch were frozen at 2:16am, capturing the moment Stone entered the freezing cold North Atlantic.
2) Crow’s nest key – £90,000
This key opened the binoculars store aboard the RMS Titanic. Tagged “Crow’s Nest Telephone Titanic”, the key was not on the ship when it sailed from Southampton.
The key was in the pocket of an officer who was transferred off the ship days before its maiden voyage. He forgot to hand it in to his replacement as he left.
One lookout, Fred Fleet, who survived, told the official inquiry that if they had had binoculars they would have seen the iceberg sooner. When asked how much sooner, Fleet replied: "Enough to get out of the way."
The key sold for £90,000 at an auction by Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wilshire, UK in September 2007.
3) Master key for cabins E1-E42 - £84,000
Also from the collection of Edmund Stone, a master key for cabins E1-E42 was sold for £84,000 by Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in 2008.
The key is very likely to have been used by Stone in the hours before the Titanic sunk in order to access the cabins after they were vacated.
4) Messages from the Titanic, the Olympic & other ships - $123,500
In February 1998, Christie’s in New York sold a volume of messages from the Olympic, the Titanic and other ships dated April 14th to April 16th. There were 34 signals between the Olympic, the Titanic, Carpathia & other ships which detailed the distress signals of the Titanic and the rescue operations following the disaster.
The volume, which carried a pre-sale estimate of $2,200-$2,800 sold for $123,500.
5) Barbara Dainton-West collection - £69,000
Barbara Dainton-West was only 10 months old when the RMS Titanic sank. From Cornwall originally, Dainton-West and her family were going to start a new life in America. This unique archive of letters had been in the family since 1912.
The letters contain detailed descriptions of life aboard the Titanic and in depth accounts of the bereavement and anger that was felt once the surviving members of the family arrived in New York.
As well as the letters, the collection contained a small thermos flask which had been given to the family, full of hot milk, upon their rescue.
The Barbara Dainton-West collection sold for £69,000 in April 2009.
6) The Booth – Titanic Signals Archive - £66,000
Eighty five messages sent and received by the Titanic from April 12th to April 15th 1912 were sold by Christie’s London in April 1992.
The messages were divided into two separate sections. The first section contained 49 messages and the second section contained 36 messages.
The messages were expected to sell for £8,000-£10,000 but were bought for £66,000.
