LONDON, Nov 25: A pocket watch recovered from the body of a first-class Titanic passenger has set a new benchmark in maritime memorabilia after being sold for an astonishing USD 2.3 million at an auction in England, the highest price ever paid for an item linked to the ill-fated liner.
The exquisite 18-carat Jules Jurgensen timepiece, steeped in both historical and emotional significance, belonged to Straus, the esteemed co-owner of Macy’s.
“The world-record price illustrates the enduring interest in the Titanic story,” Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge from Henry Aldridge & Son, located in Devizes, Wiltshire, told The Guardian of the gold watch given to Isidor Straus by his wife, Ida. The item sold for the historic amount on Saturday, Nov. 22, The Guardian and The New York Times and NBC News reported.
“Every man, woman and child passenger or crew had a story to tell and they are told 113 years later through the memorabilia,” Aldridge told The Guardian.
The couple died when the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after Ida refused to leave her husband’s side. Isidor’s body was later found, and the watch was recovered from his body, according to the auction house, reports PEOPLE.
The Strauses were the ultimate love story,” Aldridge said of the story behind the 18-carat Jules Jurgensen watch, The Guardian reported. “Ida refusing to leave her husband of 41 years as the Titanic sank, and this world-record price is testament to the respect that they are held in.”
“I will not be separated from my husband; as we have lived, so will we die together,” Ida said, according to the organization. Her body was never found, and more than 1,500 people died when the liner sank.
The sale surpasses the previous record for Titanic memorabilia, held by another gold watch once presented to the ship captain credited with rescuing hundreds of survivors.
The Strauses inspired a fictional scene in James Cameron’s 1997 film, Titanic. In the film, a couple held each other in bed as freezing water breached their cabin, The New York Times noted. (UNI)
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