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April 30, 2024

Gold Pocket Watch Of The Richest Guy Aboard Titanic Fetches Record-Breaking R28 Million

Tycoon John Jacob Astor perished with the ship in 1912 after seeing his new bride, Madeleine, safely onto a lifeboat.

[imagesource:wikipedia]

A gold pocket watch recovered from the remains of the Titanic’s richest man sold for a record-breaking £1.2 million (R28 million) this weekend.

The watch was sold on Saturday to a private collector in the United States at Henry Aldridge & Son in Devizes, Wiltshire, for the highest price ever paid for Titanic memorabilia, according to the auctioneers.

The watch’s original owner, tycoon John Jacob Astor, perished with the ship in 1912 at the age of 47 after seeing his new bride, Madeleine, board a lifeboat.

The previous highest amount paid for Titanic artefacts was £1.1m (R25 million) for a violin that was played as the ship sank – which sold at the same auction house in 2013, according to auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, who told the PA news agency that the prices fetched by the Titanic memorabilia at the sale were “absolutely incredible”.