A gold pocket watch belonging to an elderly couple who perished in the Titanic sinking tragedy was successfully auctioned for £1.78 million ($2.3 million), according to PA Media/dpa reports.
The watch was auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire.
The 18-carat watch made by Jules Jurgensen belonged to first-class passenger Isidor Straus, who drowned when the Titanic sank in April 1912, claiming around 1,500 lives.
He and his wife, Ida, were said to be embracing as the ship went down, as depicted in the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic directed by James Cameron.
The watch was found along with several other personal items on Straus’s body and was later returned to his family.
Isidor received the watch as a 43rd birthday gift in 1888, the same year he was appointed a partner at Macy’s department store in New York.
Meanwhile, a Titanic passenger list was purchased for £104,000 ($136,140), while a gold medal awarded to the RMS Carpathia crew by survivors sold for £86,000 ($112,580).
A handwritten letter by Ida on official Titanic stationery sent while aboard the ship sold for £100,000 ($130,905).
The auctioneer stated that this price is the highest ever paid for ‘Titanic memorabilia’.
The previous record was set last year when a gold pocket watch gifted to the captain of the boat that rescued over 700 passengers sold for £1.56 million ($2.04 million).
