A gold pocket watch that belonged to the captain who saved 700 passengers from the Titanic liner has sold for a record amount: 1.86 million euros.
The watch, manufactured by the prestigious firm Tiffany & Co with 18 karat goldbecomes the Titanic-related antiquity that has achieved the highest price at auction.
The jewel was a gift received by the captain of the RMS Carpathia, Arthur Rostronwho helped rescue survivors from the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.
The watch was given to him by Madeleine Astor and two other widows of wealthy, high-profile businessmen, who also disappeared when the ship sank.
Madeleine Astor was on board the ship with her husband, John Jacob Astorfrom the famous Astor family of New York. Astor was 47 when he went down with the ship in 1912, after leaving his new wife Madeleine in a lifeboat.
The clock bears an inscription which reads: “Presented to Captain Rostron with the sincerest gratitude and appreciation of the three survivors of the Titanic on April 15, 1912, Mrs. John B. Thayer, Mrs. John Jacob Astor and Mrs. George D. Widener”.
Captain Rostron received the gift from Mr. Astor’s wife at a luncheon at the family mansion in the Fifth Avenue, New Yorkaccording to the auction house, Henry Aldridge and Son.
“It was given primarily as a thank you for Rostron’s bravery in saving those lives, because without Mr. Rostron, those 700 people would not have made it”says auctioneer Andrew Aldridge.
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