Titanic’s richest passenger’s gold watch goes up for auction this Saturday, 27th

For a value that can reach almost R$1 millionthe 14-carat gold Waltham watch that belonged to the Titanic’s richest passenger will be auctioned this Saturday, 27th, in the United Kingdom.

John Jacob Astor IV, a business magnate, owned the relic, which will be sold by British antiques and collectibles auction house Henry Aldridge & Son.

The starting bid for the item at auction is £60,000 (around R$392.1 thousand), but experts estimate that the gold watch could fetch up to £150,000, a value equivalent to R$980.4 thousand.

The watch was found with its owner after the wreck

With the original owner’s initials “JJA” engraved on the outside, the pocket watch was found when Astor’s body was recovered in the northern Atlantic Ocean.

The recovery of the body would have occurred a week after the tragic sinking of the Titanicwhich collided with an iceberg on the vessel’s maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, United States, in 1912.

Astor earned a reputation as a real estate mogul after creating the Astoria Hotel and, later, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

How the original owner of the watch acted during the sinking

According to the auction house, he helped his pregnant teenage wife board a lifeboat before returning to the sinking ship to wait for the men to be called.

The tycoon, who was 47 years old at the time of the accident, was last seen smoking a cigarette with Jacques Futrelle, an American journalist and writer who was also a victim of the Titanic tragedy.

The pocket watch was one of Astor’s belongings found with him that helped rescuers identify him, as well as the initials “JJA” stitched into the lapel of the jacket he was wearing.

The tycoon wore other luxury items during the tragedy

In addition to the gold watch, at the time of the sinking, the man was also wearing gold and diamond cufflinks and a ring, which contained three units of the precious stone.

Inside the tycoon’s pockets, a sum of US$ 2.72 thousand in cash and gold, silver and franc coins.

According to auction house Henry Aldridge & Son, the watch underwent restoration after the item was returned to the Astor family and became one of the most important pieces in watchmaking history related to the Titanic.

Other items from the history of the Titanic are also up for auction

Along with the pocket watch, there is also the sale of other items that were part of the context of the infamous shipwreck, such as the valise of the famous violin played by the bandleader as the ship sank, Astor’s cufflinks, and the blueprint of the ship’s first-class accommodation.

The estimated value of the violin suitcase is between £100,000 and £120,000 (around R$663,600 and R$784,300). The musical instrument itself was sold in 2013 for $1.7 million at the same auction house.

Cufflinks can cost between £5,000 and £8,000 (approximately between R$32,700 and R$52,300). The value of the ship’s first-class accommodation plan could reach £30,000 (around R$196,000)

Until 12pm this Saturday27, Brasília time (4 p.m. local time), the bid to acquire the gold watch was £160,000 (around R$ 1.04 million), i.e., a value above what was previously estimated.

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