Titanic’s richest passenger’s gold watch breaks millionaire record at auction

John Jacob Astor’s gold pocket watch was auctioned for £1.2 million, making it the most expensive Titanic object ever sold at auction.

A gold pocket watch recovered from the body of John Jacob Astor IV, the richest passenger on the RMS Titanic, has been sold for a record value of 1.2 million of pounds.

The sale was made at auctioneer Henry Aldridge & Son, in Devizes, Wiltshire, and represents the highest amount ever paid for objects recovered from the Titanic. The buyer is a private collector from the USA.

John Jacob Astor, a prominent businessman, tragically died when the Titanic sank in 1912. He was last seen helping his wife, Madeleine, into a lifeboat, before choosing to stay on the ship.

Astor was known for his immense wealth, estimated at around 87 million dollars at the time, the equivalent of several billion dollars today. His body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean seven days after the disaster, and his 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with his initials JJA, was found among his belongings, explains The Guardian.

The sale of Astor’s watch surpassed the previous record for Titanic artifacts, which was 1.1 million pounds paid in 2013 for a violin played when the ship sank. The auction also saw the sale of the violin case for £360,000, including duties and taxes.

Andrew Aldridge, the auctioneer, commented on the significance of the sale, citing the “enduring appeal and fascination with the story of the Titanic”, which continues to captivate public interest more than a century later. Each piece of Titanic memorabilia helps tell the personal stories of the 2,200 passengers, each with their own narrative of that fateful voyage.

The watch was later passed from Astor’s son, Vincent, to the son of Astor’s executive secretary, illustrating the historical journey of this important artifact before it reached the auction block. This sale not only highlights the ongoing interest in the history of the Titanic, but also the value placed on tangible pieces linked to the personal stories of its passengers.