A gold pocket watch belonging to a first-class passenger who died with his wife aboard the Titanic has sold for £1.78 million at auction – the highest price ever paid for memorabilia from the doomed liner.
The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen engraved watch belonged to Isidor Straus, who drowned alongside his wife Ida when the ship sank in April 1912, claiming 1,500 lives. The couple refused to be separated as disaster struck, cementing their place as one of the Titanic's most poignant stories.
The sale surpassed the previous record of £1.56 million, set last year for another gold pocket watch connected to the Titanic.
A gift from 1888
Straus received the watch in 1888 as a gift for his 43rd birthday – the same year he became a partner in New York department store Macy's. The timepiece was recovered from his body along with other personal effects and returned to his family, where it remained until Saturday's auction.
Born into a Jewish family in Otterberg, Bavaria, in 1845, Straus emigrated to the United States with his family in 1854. In January 1912, he and his wife travelled to Jerusalem before returning to the US via Southampton aboard the Titanic.
Refusing to separate
During the night of the sinking, the wealthy couple made their way to the Titanic's boat deck. When Straus was offered a seat on a lifeboat due to his age, he declined, saying he would not go before other men.
His wife refused to leave him. They were last seen alive sitting on deckchairs, facing their fate side by side. The couple were portrayed in James Cameron's 1997 blockbuster film Titanic as embracing each other as the ship went down.
They were among very few first-class passengers to perish in the disaster.
Record auction
The watch sold at Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire. Other items from the auction included a letter written by Ida Straus on Titanic stationery, which fetched £100,000, and a passenger list that sold for £104,000. A gold medal awarded to the crew of RMS Carpathia by rescued survivors sold for £86,000.
The total auction of Titanic-related memorabilia reached £3 million.
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."
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
