Gold pocketwatch belonging to Titanic's richest passenger sells for £1,175,000 (2024)

A gold pocket watch which was recovered from the body of the Titanic’s richest passenger has sold for a record-breaking sum at auction.

John Jacob Astor died when the Titanic sank in 1912, after ensuring his wife Madeleine got onto a lifeboat safely.

He went down with the ship and was last seen smoking a cigarette and smoking with a fellow passenger before his death.

Mr Astor’s body was recovered from the Atlantic a week later, and his 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with his initials, was also found.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge explained: ‘Astor is well known as the richest passenger aboard the RMS Titanic and was thought to be among the richest people in the world at that time, with a net worth of roughly $87million – equivalent to several billion dollars today.

‘At 11.40pm on April 14, 1912, the Titanic hit an iceberg and started to take on water.

‘At first, Astor did not believe the ship was in any serious danger, but later it was apparent she was sinking and the captain had started an evacuation after midnight, so he helped his wife into lifeboat four.’

Mr Astor’s wife survived and his watch was passed by Mr Astor’s son Vincent to the son of his father’s executive secretary, William Dobbyn.

It went on sale at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, and sold to an American private collector for £1.175million – the highest amount ever spent on Titanic memorabilia.

Mr Aldridge said the prices fetched by Titanic memorabilia were ‘absolutely incredible, adding: ‘They reflect not only the importance of the artefacts themselves and their rarity but they also show the enduring appeal and fascination with the Titanic story.

‘112 years later, we are still talking about the ship and the passengers and the crew.

‘The thing with the Titanic story, it’s effectively a large ship hits an iceberg with a tragic loss of life, but more importantly is 2,200 stories.

‘2,200 subplots, every man woman and child had a story to tell and then the memorabilia tells those stories today.’

Who was John Jacob Astor?

John Jacob Astor, born in July 1864, was heir of one of the wealthiest families in the United States.

Their family roots begin in Germany and the Italian and Swiss Alps, first appearing in North America in the 18th century.

He served as a lieutenant colonel during the Spanish-American war, and worked as a real estate developer, investor and business magnate.

He was the richest passenger on board the RMS Titanic, and was thought to be one of the richest people in the world at the time.

Mr Astor married socialite Ava Lowle Willing in 1891 and they had two children, William and Ava. They divorced in 1909, when he announced he would remarry.

He married 18-year-old Madeleine Talmage Force, and there was much controversy over his rapid remarrying and the 29-year age gap between him and his new wife.

The most expensive Titanic artefacts that have ever sold at auction

Before this pocketwatch was sold, the previous highest amount paid for Titanic artefacts was £1.1million for a violin that was played as the ship sank – which sold at the same auction house in 2013, according to the auctioneers.

The case for the violin was sold at the same auction as the pocketwatch for £360,000 including fees and taxes.

Some of the other most expensive pieces of Titanic memorabilia sold at auction, with their approximate values converted from USD, include:

• The cigar box belonging to Titanic Captain Edward John Smith – £31,000
• A first deck plan, one of only three known to exist – £38,000
• A life jacket found near the wreckage price and stained with oil and blood – £43,000
• The only known photograph of the iceberg believed to have struck the Titanic – £79,000
• The menu from the last meal served on the Titanic – £98,000
• A pocketwatch owned by steward Edmund Stone, which stopped at the exact time he fell into the Atlantic Ocean – £121,000
• A full ship plan – £286,000

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