Watch from Titanic sells for record £1.78 million at auction

A gold pocket watch belonging to a wealthy passenger aboard the Titanic has sold for a record £1.78 million at an auction. Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida, were among the 1,500 people who died when the Titanic, traveling from Southampton to New York, struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Straus’s body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean after the disaster. Among his belongings was an 18-carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch. The watch, which had remained in the Straus family for generations, was sold on Saturday. Straus was an American businessman and politician, best known as one of the

A gold pocket watch belonging to a wealthy passenger aboard the Titanic has sold for a record £1.78 million at an auction. Isidor Straus and his wife, Ida, were among the 1,500 people who died when the Titanic, traveling from Southampton to New York, struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912. Straus’s body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean after the disaster. Among his belongings was an 18-carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch. The watch, which had remained in the Straus family for generations, was sold on Saturday. Straus was an American businessman and politician, best known as one of the founders of Macy’s department store in New York. According to historical accounts, Ida refused a seat on a lifeboat on the night of the sinking, saying she would not leave her husband and chose to remain with him. Her body was never found. A letter Ida wrote while on board the ship was also recovered and later sold at auction for £100,000. In total, items linked to Titanic passengers have fetched more than £3 million at various auctions.