Auction offers the largest sale of Titanic mementos

Auction offers the largest sale of Titanic mementos Deck chair, a pocket watch frozen in time among items offered

NEW YORK -- A battered life jacket that may have taken the life it meant to save. A pocket watch frozen in time, its hands stopped minutes after the most infamous ocean liner plunged beneath the sea. A Titanic deck chair pulled from icy waves nearly a century ago.

These slivers of history and hundreds more go up for auction today at Manhattan's South Street Seaport in the largest-ever sale of Titanic memorabilia.

The auction, which could raise more than $2.5 million, also features items from Titanic movies and from other doomed ships such as the Lusitania and Andrea Doria.

While a huge crowd is expected to bid on about 500 items beneath a white tent steps away from the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, people around the world also can participate online through eBay.

The event came about when three Titanic collectors decided to sell together to "produce an auction without equal," said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's, which is known for auctioning nautical memorabilia.

Ettinger, speaking yesterday at an auction preview, said that while some items may be beyond the reach of the average person -- such as a 22-foot-long working Titanic model expected to cost $30,000 or more -- some have no minimum price and could sell for as little as $500.

The Titanic, the legendary vessel touted as unsinkable, struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage from England to New York on April 14, 1912, and went to the bottom early the next morning. More than 1,500 people died, while about 700 people survived.

"We're doing things in a tasteful way," Ettinger said. "The Titanic has such a magical history. There are stories of romance, stories of great heroism, stories of cowardice that have lived on."

Many auction items were recovered from the sea and survivors, and include telegrams, photographs, postcards, clothing, china and silverware.

The restored deck chair, used as a model for those in James Cameron's 1997 film "Titanic," may fetch the highest price of at least $60,000.

Other items include five of 20 Titanic menus known to exist. The menus, from different passenger classes, detail the eating habits of rich and poor with courses ranging from "Supreme of Chicken a la Stanley" to "Gruel" with biscuits and cheese.

One reason the collectors are selling now is the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the disaster, which could flood the market for memorabilia, said collector Gary Robinson, 46, a psychologist from Oneonta, N.Y.

More than 300 items come from the collection of Tony Probst, 45, of Novato, Calif., who owns a business installing home theaters.

His collection includes a nickel-plated pocket watch that belonged to a man who shoveled coal into the ship's boilers, and the life jacket, which was likely cut from the body of a Titanic victim buried at sea. Probst said the cork life jackets killed many because they resisted submersion too well and victims who jumped wearing them often broke their necks.

David Malave, a 9-year-old Titanic fan inspired by the Cameron film who has decorated his bedroom to resemble the fabled ship, had his eye on the life jacket, but said, "That's never going to happen." It is expected to sell for at least $40,000.

His parents, Kent and Lyn, who brought him from Austin, Texas, to attend the auction, said a more realistic purchase may be some Titanic blueprints.

Buying a military antique is one thing: that symbolizes a fighting spirit. But buying a piece of wreckage from a tragic event? I don't see it. It's creepy. Sure, they had nice things on that ship. It would be nice if the purchasers share the items on a rotation basis with decedents of the victims. FReegards....

2 posted on 06/10/2004 1:51:32 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Pray for Rush)

Titanic ping

3 posted on 06/10/2004 2:11:12 AM PDT by agitator (...And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark)

I would love to get my hands on some artifact bearing the Titanic's name. Failing that, I'd certainly settle for something from the Doria. I've been a shipwreck-ophile for most of my life, and these two disasters feature strongly in my studies.

This site will follow this auction, for sure...

http://www.titanic-titanic.com

Check out the 'Collectibles' forum for the range of items available and links to other sites.

5 posted on 06/10/2004 4:55:13 AM PDT by WorkingClassFilth (Back to an old favorite: DEFUND NPR & PBS - THE AMERICAN PRAVDA)

How do the 'bidders' know the stuff is legit?
I would'nt assume a 1910 era pocketwatch filled
with saltwater is necessarily from the Titanic.

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