An unusual item — a life jacket from the legendary Titanic — was sold at auction in the U.K. An unknown buyer paid $906,000 for it, The Associated Press reported.
The price was twice what experts had expected.
Whose jacket was it?
This jacket was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli. She was the secretary of a famous fashion designer and was traveling first class. Francatelli was one of the few who survived that fateful night in 1912. She was on Boat No. 1, which had only 12 survivors, although there was enough room for 40.
The jacket’s main value lies in the signatures. Francatelli and the other survivors from her lifeboat signed it as a memento of their miraculous rescue.
What else was sold at auction?
The Henry Aldridge & Son auction showed that interest in the Titanic’s history is only growing. A seat cushion from a lifeboat sold for $527,000. It was purchased by museum owners from the U.S.
However, the gold watch of the captain of the RMS Carpathia, who was the first to come to the rescue of the sinking ship, still holds the record. It was sold in 2024 for almost $2 million.
114 years after the disaster, the belongings of passengers — from the poor to the millionaires — are causing a huge stir. For collectors, these are not just old objects, but a living history of people whose lives were forever changed by an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to auction house specialists, these prices are a sign of deep respect for the memory of those who were aboard the «unsinkable» liner.
Last year, the media reported that a love letter by a Titanic passenger, who is referred to as the real Jack Dawson — played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the eponymous movie — would be offered at auction for the first time. Ernest Tomlin, 21, a third-class passenger who sailed to the U.S. in April 1912, confessed his feelings in a letter to his family about a woman named Rose, just like in the movie.
