Henry Aldridge & Son

The Devizes Auctioneers

very rare Titanic Lifejacket to be Auctioned

Pre Sale Press Release For

September 30^th 2006 Titanic and White Star Auction

After the world record breaking success of Henry Aldridge’s April Titanic auction where two items from the Churchill Candee collection realized over £10000, the September Titanic auction was going to be a very hard to act to follow. But the auctioneers are delighted with the selection of over 360 items from the Titanic and White Star line on offer on September 30^th.  

The star of the sale is a lifejacket from the Titanic which is without doubt one of the rarest items to be offered for auction from the ill fated liner in recent years. It is one is one of only handful of examples worldwide and was picked up by the Mackay Bennett, one the vessels chartered by the White Star Line in the days after the disaster in April 1912.  The lifejacket has been on display in a number of museums in North America since the 1970’s. More recently it has been on show in the Wonders Exhibition in Memphis and at Titanic Ship of Dreams in Orlando, Florida. This incredible item from that fateful night is estimated at £30000-£40000.  But this is only one of the objects on offer, another very rare piece is an eight page letter from First Class Passenger Edward Colley, Colley was mentioned several times in the manuscript that realized £48000 in Henry Aldridge’s April 30^th Titanic sale. The letter itself gives a unique snapshot into life on board the doomed liner and also the class system in existence at the time, Mr Coley wrote the letter dated April 10^th with tongue firmly in cheek at times!

“They also have a restaurant where you can [pay for meals if you get bored with the ordinary grub. Our most distinguished passengers seem to be W. T. Stead, W. W. Astor [sic], Chas. M. Hays and E. P. Colley. Oh, and the Countess of something, but her blood is only black blue (give me good red corpuscles; I seem to know more about them. And they circulate faster." We nearly had a collision to start with - [goes on to name the New York and says the incident 'proves conclusively the case of the Hawke and Olympic.

...Don't you think that it is I who am common and second-rate and not my friends?. It is anticipated this letter will sell for £15000-£20000.

Another historically important item is a unique telegram sent to Congressman J.A. Hughes on April 15^th 1912 from the White Star Line, the owners of Titanic.. What makes this telegram so controversial is the content, it reads “Titanic proceeding to Halifax, will probably land Wednesday all safe” but dated April 15^th 1912, a day after the collision with the iceberg. This telegram was used in the American Enquiry into the disaster and led to rumours circulating within the US Government at the time that the White Star delayed releasing the news of the disaster so they were able to reinsure the ship minimizing their losses. Congressman Hughes’s daughter was a passenger onboard, she was rescued but her husband was lost.  The estimate on this highly interesting piece is £6000-£10000.

Other significant items include a further two letters written onboard including one by Second Class Passenger James Hocking. The last sentence of the text written on official Titanic stationary is an emotive and prophetic one. Mr Hocking was one of the 1503 souls that lost their lives in the cold waters of the North Atlantic. He writes “Everybody tells me I will not regret the step I have taken so buck up and we shant be long” This letter is estimated at £8000-£12000. There are a further 364 lots in the sale including other onboard material, rare pre maiden voyage publicity items and over 80 lots of White Star Line ceramics including examples made exclusively for Olympic and Titanic.

Fully illustrated catalogues are now available at a cost of £15. Contact the auctioneers on +44 1380 729199 or visit www.henry-aldridge.co.uk for qualified, confidential and professional advice regarding any item relating to Titanic, White Star Line, Cunard or Ocean Liner Memorabilia. Entries are now being accepted for the April 2007 Titanic and White Star auction.