On Saturday local time, a life jacket worn by a passenger to escape in a lifeboat when the Titanic sank was sold at auction for 670,000 pounds ($906,000). The life jacket was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger on the ill-fated cruise ship, and signed by her and other survivors on the ship.
The item was the star of the Titanic commemorative collection launched by Henry Aldridge and Sons Auction House in Devizes, western England. It was finally sold by an anonymous phone buyer, and the transaction price was much higher than the previous estimate of 250,000 to 350,000 pounds.
At the same auction, a seat cushion from a Titanic lifeboat sold for 390,000 pounds ($527,000) to the owners of two Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Branson, Missouri.
The above transaction prices include the buyer's premium charged by the auction house.
Andrew Aldridge, director of the auction house, said: "These record-breaking prices reflect the continued interest in the story of the Titanic and the respect for the passengers and crew on board. These relics help keep their stories alive."
The Titanic, known as the world's most luxurious cruise ship and described as "almost unsinkable," hit an iceberg near Newfoundland on its maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to New York. On April 15, 1912, the ship sank within hours, killing approximately 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew on board.
The Titanic still arouses intense fascination and ongoing debate around the world, in part because of the wide range of identities of the passengers on board, from ordinary people to dignitaries.
Francatelli was traveling with her employer, fashion designer Lucy Duff-Gordon and her husband, Cosmo Duff-Gordon. All three people survived in lifeboat No. 1. The boat was certified to carry 40 passengers, but it sailed away with only 12 people on board at the time, without rescuing other survivors in the cold water. This incident has since caused huge controversy.
The auction record for Titanic-related collections was 1.56 million pounds (equivalent to nearly US$2 million at the time), which was sold in 2024. The auction item was a gold pocket watch that was given to the captain of the Carpathia who rescued 700 Titanic survivors.