Record-Breaking Sale: Titanic Passenger’s Gold Pocket Watch Fetches £1.78m at Auction
A gold pocket watch belonging to Isidor Straus, a first-class passenger who perished with his wife Ida on the Titanic, has sold for a world-record £1.78 million ($2.26 million) at auction in Devizes, Wiltshire. The timepiece, gifted to Straus on his 43rd birthday in 1888, surpassed the previous record for Titanic memorabilia – a captain’s pocket watch sold last year for £1.56 million.
The sale, conducted by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers, underscores the enduring interest with the Titanic tragedy and the poignant stories of those aboard. Isidor and Ida Straus, who died in 1912, were celebrated for their devotion; they were last seen sitting together on deckchairs as the ship sank, Ida refusing to leave her husband’s side. Their story was famously depicted in James Cameron’s 1997 film Titanic.
Straus, born in Bavaria in 1845, emigrated to the US with his family in 1854 and became a partner in Macy’s department store. The couple were among over 1,500 who lost their lives, and were among the few first-class passengers to perish. The watch was recovered from the wreckage and returned to the straus family.
Other Titanic artifacts sold at the auction included a letter penned by Ida Straus on Titanic stationery for £100,000,a passenger list for £104,000,and a gold medal awarded to the crew of the RMS Carpathia for £86,000. The total value of Titanic memorabilia sold at the auction reached £3 million.
“The world-record price illustrates the enduring interest in the Titanic story,” said auctioneer Andrew Aldridge. “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.”
