Gold watch belonging to couple who died together on the Titanic sells for $2.3 million

CBS News ^ | Updated on: November 24, 2025 / 9:00 AM EST | Emily Mae Czachor

[E. Pluribus Unum]

A pocket watch that once belonged to one of the Titanic's most renowned passengers has sold at an auction for $2.3 million — a record price for memorabilia related to the historic shipwreck, according to the auction house.

The 18-carat gold watch was gifted to its original owner, Isidor Straus, by his wife, Ida Straus, for his 43rd birthday, said Henry Aldridge and Son, the auction house that sold it on Saturday. It was recovered from his body after the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic in April 1912.

Isidor Straus was an American businessman and politician who owned the Macy's department store in New York City. He and his wife were first-class passengers on the Titanic during its maiden voyage from England to New York, and the couple are remembered for their final act of selflessness while on board.

Witnesses who survived the Titanic wreck said afterward that the Strauses were offered two seats on a lifeboat once the ship had struck an iceberg, according to the U.K. government's National Archives. But Isidor Straus refused his seat, instead insisting that it should have been offered to younger men, and Ida Straus followed him, reportedly saying, "Where you go, I go."

According to those archives, Isidor and Ida Straus were last seen standing arm in arm on the deck of the Titanic, before a wave crashed overhead and washed them out to sea. The Strauses were the ancestors of Wendy Rush, wife of OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, who died in the infamous Titan submersible explosion in 2023 en route to the Titanic wreck site.

Straus' pocket watch exceeded the previous record sale for a piece of the Titanic's history memorabilia by about $300,000, according to Henry Aldridge and Son. The previous record was set for...

[PGR88]

But Isidor Straus refused his seat, instead insisting that it should have been offered to younger men, and Ida Straus followed him, reportedly saying, "Where you go, I go."

It was Mark Steyn, I believe, who said that he felt the sinking of the Titanic represented the peak of western culture, Christian values, social order and chivalry - and its been all downhill since.

[Jamestown1630]

What a sad, sweet story.

[DFG]

“I’m the king of the world!”

[rightwingcrazy]

Isador was Jewish, but your point is still well-made.

[Bigg Red]

Amazing story of valor. RIP.

^^^^^

Hey, stupid “jounalist,” the ship did not “sunk”; the Titanic sank.

[laconic]

Isidor Straus served as a Confederate officer in the Civil War; he was appointed the deputy agent for buying the blockade runners for the South in England. He had been admitted to West Point on the recommendation of Georgia’s senators but the Civil War broke out. He and his wife were class acts.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Macy’s was closed for week. They were beloved by Macy’s employees. For some reason.

[Texas Eagle]

....after the Titanic sunk in the North Atlantic in April 1912...

Sunk? Or sank? Seems like if you're going to use the word, sunk, it should've been preceeded by " was". As in, "was sunk". Which it wasn't. It sank. True, it was sunk BY an iceberg but it sank AFTER hitting the iceberg.

[llevrok]

Paging John Camron Swayze.....

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

As Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage explains, “Both sank and sunk are used for the past tense of sink. Sank is used more often, but sunk is neither rare nor dialectal as a past tense, though it is usually a past participle.”

[al baby]

And Sanka is just crappy coffee

[dfwgator]

Paging John Camron Swayze.....

---

You’re old! (and so am I)

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin.’

[packrat35]

Before that was the Birkenhead Drill in 1845

Just before she sank, Salmond called out that “all those who can swim jump overboard, and make for the boats”. Colonel Seton, however, recognising that rushing the lifeboats would risk swamping them and endangering the women and children, ordered the men to stand fast, and only three men made the attempt. The cavalry horses were freed and driven into the sea in the hope that they might be able to swim ashore.

The soldiers did not move, even as the ship broke up barely 20 minutes after striking the rock. Some of the soldiers managed to swim the 2 miles (3.2 km) to shore over the next 12 hours, often hanging on to pieces of the wreck to stay afloat, but most drowned, died of exposure or were killed by sharks.

[Bikkuri]

It should be in a museum, or given to their family members.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It should be in a museum, or given to their family members.

So the couples' heirs were not given possession of it?

Citation>?

[Mozzafiato]

It should be in a museum, or given to their family members.

According to The Independent and BBC:
After the recovery, the watch “was returned to his family.” His great-grandson, Kenneth Hollister Straus, later repaired and restored the watch before it eventually went to auction.

[Bikkuri]

Thank you for the update ;^)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“According to those archives, Isidor and Ida Straus were last seen standing arm in arm on the deck of the Titanic, before a wave crashed overhead and washed them out to sea. The Strauses were the ancestors of Wendy Rush, wife of OceanGate founder Stockton Rush, who died in the infamous Titan submersible explosion in 2023 en route to the Titanic wreck site.”

Kind of an unlucky bunch, that family...