Henry Aldridge & Son

The Devizes Auctioneers

Press Release

Record Braking Auction of Titanic Memorabilia

Held on Saturday October 17^th at 1pm

Henry Aldridge and Son, the World’s leading auctioneers of Titanic and White Star Line held their latest auction of Titanic and White Star Line memorabilia on 17^th October. Over 270 lots went under the hammer with prices that ranged from £50 to £60000.

One of the highlights of the sale was a remarkable collection of material from 3^rd class Titanic passenger Malcolm Johnson. Mr Malcolm Johnson (Johansson) "Sever" was 33 when Titanic sank. Johansson, although born in Sweden, lived and worked in Minneapolis and owned his own successful construction business. His reason for going home to Sweden from the US was he wished to buy his childhood home in Bjorkaryd. Although a Third Class passenger he was comfortably off as he was able to lend his brother over $2600, a sizeable amount in 1912. This venture did not work out so he decided to return to America, he booked his passage to return to the US. He may well have travelled from Sweden on the SS Calypso like the Asplund family whose ticket number of 347077 was only fifteen away from Malcolm's ticket which was 347062. He boarded Titanic at Southampton on April 10th 1912 and paid £7 15 shillings for his Third Class ticket.

He was originally due to travel on the Adriatic but owing to the coal strike of April 1912 and a cruel quirk of fate, he was transferred to Titanic as the Adriatic was unable to make the voyage. Malcolm travelled together with fellow Swedes, Gustaf Joel Johansson and Oscar Hedman. An interesting fact which was to become relevant later was that his brother and family stated he had over $1,000 in dollar bills sewn into his socks prior to leaving, presumably the funds he never used to purchase his farm.

Johansson died in the sinking. His body was found by the Mackey Bennett. The ship was hired by the White Star Line to recover the bodies of those lost and to take them back to Halifax, he was number 37. When his body was recovered and according to the official list of effects he was still wearing his boots but his socks were missing, otherwise he was correctly dressed. His brother Wilhelm Nilsson wrote to the authorities in New York several times to find out what had happened to the money that was allegedly sewn into his socks but nothing was ever proven. The authorities denied any knowledge of foul play and the mystery of his missing socks and the money was never solved. All his other belongings were sent back to his family in Sweden, where they remained for 97 years. Malcolm was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax on May 10th 1912. The archive comprises of an Omega watch having been onboard and survived the Titanic sinking with the hands frozen in time by immersion in the cold North Atlantic in the early hours of April 15^th 1912. This example was purchased in Sweden on June 9th 1910 and is a Lepine Omega of grade A quality and is the only documented example of an Omega to have survived the disaster. The watch remained with Mr Johansson until it was recovered along with his body by the Mackay Bennett. The hands are frozen in time at 1.37 - the time difference at that time was 47 minutes. When this is taken into account, the watch reads 2.24, moments after Titanic started her final journey to the bottom of the ocean. In addition there is a rare Manifest ticket for Titanic stamped April 10th 1912. This particular ticket was initially to be used on the Adriatic. The vessel that Mr Malcolm Johansson was to have boarded, prior to his transfer to Titanic. It is stamped in ink number 7 and has suffered from water damage. This ticket would have been very important to Mr Johnson as it would have needed to be presented to the authorities when Titanic arrived at Ellis Island. Also being sold is a unique studio portrait of Mr Malcolm Johansson. The final element is a very rare Titanic luggage ticket stamped 2951, printed on a green card stock to be given to passenger White Star Line Southampton - Cherbourg - New York. Like the Manifest ticket, this would have been of great importance to Mr Johansson, hence why he kept it on his person as he tried to leave the ship, as without it, in his eyes he would not have been able to claim his luggage or perhaps compensation for it. The archive sold for £155000, the luggage ticket leading the way at £59000 closely followed by his pocket watch at £58000.

One particularly striking lot offered was an oil on canvas, depicting First Class survivor Eleanor Widener (nee Elkins) circa 1880's. Mr. and Mrs. George D. Widener boarded the Titanic at Cherbourg with their son, Harry Elkins Widener, Mr. Widener's man servant, Edwin Keeping, and the Widener's maid, Amalie Gieger. They occupied First Class cabins C80/82. The Wideners are renowned for having hosted the dinner for Captain Smith on the night of the disaster and this stunning oil painting sold for £14500.

Postcards and photographs from the Titanic, her passengers and crew are always sought after. Leading the way in this respect was a family group of Rev John Harper and his family which sold for a world record £19500. Other notable prices included £9500 for a launch photo of Titanic and £7000 for a photograph of Titanic first class passenger Mr and Mrs J.J. Astor. A two tier table made from wreckwood salvaged from Titanic’s wrecksite sold for £6000 and a postcard written onboard the illfated liner by First Class Passenger Stanley May £9500.

Entries are now being accepted for our April 2010 auction. Please contact Andrew or Alan Aldridge on +44 1380 729199 for further details.