A salvaged first-class Titanic menu and a pocket watch ‘literally frozen in time’ made waves at auction
A first-class dinner menu from the first night of the Titanic’s voyage sold at auction for over $100,000, while a second-class passenger’s pocket watch sold for over $120,000 at auction on Saturday.
The auction was held at Henry Aldridge & Son in southwest England and showcased many items from the voyage and sinking of the Titanic on April 14, 1912, including “a first-class tartan deck blanket recovered from one of the lifeboats,” per media reports.
The managing director of the auction house, Andrew A. Aldridge, reportedly wrote in an email, “The prices reflect the ongoing interest in the most famous liner of all time and the stories behind her passengers and crew.”
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The salvaged first-class Titanic dinner menu
“The menu offered a tangible link to the food that first-class passengers ate on April 11, 1912, and as a consequence is a unique piece of social history,” Aldridge wrote, per Artnet.
ABC7 reported that the menu was “heavily water-stained,” with some of the lettering washed away as it was likely in the water at some point after the ship sunk beneath the surface.
The menu was recovered in the personal belongings of a historian from Canada living in Nova Scotia, the place where human remains of those who died during the tragedy were taken, according to CBS News.
Some of the dinner and dessert options shown on this particular menu included:
Oysters.
Sirloin of beef with horseradish cream.
Spring lamb with mint sauce.
Pureed parsnips.
Apricot Bordalou.
Victoria pudding.
The New York Times reported that while there are a few menus that survived the sinking of the Titanic, the menu at this auction is the only surviving copy known from the very first night of the voyage.
“There are several dinner menus from Titanic in existence,” Aldridge said while explaining the process of calling many Titanic collectors and museums to see if there was another one that matched his. “I can’t find another one anywhere.”
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The Titanic pocket watch frozen in time
The Washington Post reported that the pocket watch sold at auction belonged to a 34-year-old second-class passenger named Sinai Kantor, who died when the Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean.
The reported description of the watch that was recovered when the body of Kantor was found displayed “Hebrew numerals; embossed on the back is a depiction of Moses holding the Ten Commandments.”
The Swiss-made pocket watch reportedly contains a stain on the face of the watch that shows where the missing hands were formerly pointing to the time of 2:25 a.m., “suggesting the watch stopped because it hit the water with its owner about five minutes before the ship sank.”
“It’s literally frozen in time at that point, 111 years ago, when Titanic sank beneath the waves and Mr. Kantor went into the water,” Aldridge said.
