It’s a fine gold Tiffany pocket watch. It probably sold for $20 or $30 when it was first purchased in 1912, and Andrew Aldridge, the managing director of the British auction house Henry Aldridge & Son, guessed that such a watch might normally bring about $10,000 at auction today.
On Saturday, it sold for $1.97 million.
Why the big price? The inscription on the watch gives it away: “Presented to Captain Rostron with the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of three survivors of the Titanic. April 15th, 1912. Mrs. John B. Thayer, Mrs. John Jacob Astor and Mrs. George D. Widener.”
The sale price is a record for a single piece of Titanic memorabilia, the auction house said.
The epic drama of the Titanic has been often told. But another tale is less known: the story of how another passenger ship, the R.M.S. Carpathia, raced to the rescue.
In the early morning of April 15, 1912, the Carpathia was cruising along on its voyage from New York to destinations in the Mediterranean, including Gibraltar, Genoa and Naples. It was just after midnight when it got the message over the wireless: “Come at once. We have struck a berg.”
The Titanic was 58 miles away, a journey that could take four hours.
The Carpathia’s captain, Arthur Rostron, spoke to the radio operator. “Are you sure it is the Titanic and requires immediate assistance?” he asked, as recounted in the classic narrative “A Night to Remember.” “Yes, sir” was the reply. “You are absolutely certain?” “Quite certain.”
“All right. Tell him we are coming along as fast as we can.”
The Carpathia cracked into action: The crew was roused. Coal was poured in to push the ship as fast as possible. Lifeboats, blankets, first aid, food and drink were readied.
Those Carpathia passengers who were still awake were puzzled. Why were the lights on at 1 in the morning? Why was the boat hurtling along so quickly? When word spread, many believed that they were being lied to and that something was wrong with their own ship; after all, the Titanic was unsinkable.
At 1:45 a.m. came a desperate message from the Titanic: “Come as quickly as possible, old man; engine room filling up to the boilers.”
But by 2:30 the Titanic was gone.
The Carpathia arrived around 4, dodging icebergs as it went. Some of them towered 200 feet out of the water. One of them was the berg that had fatally damaged the Titanic.
The only other boats nearby were 18 lifeboats spread over a vast area with shivering, frightened people aboard. The Carpathia began bringing them aboard via rope ladders as day began to break. By 8:30 a.m. it had hauled all the survivors aboard.
About 700 people were saved. About 1,500 were not.
The Carpathia passengers were struck by the silence of the survivors now aboard their ship. And by their odd mix of clothing. According to “A Night to Remember,” they wore “a rag-bag of lace-trimmed evening dresses, kimonos, fur coats, plain woolen shawls, pajamas, rubber boots, white satin slippers.”
The Carpathia scrapped its Mediterranean voyage plan and headed for New York City. Passengers did their bit, loaning the newcomers clothes and toiletries.
When the Social Register, recorder of the doings of the rich and famous, listed the journey, it included both ships that shepherded the rich and famous across the Atlantic: “Arrived TitanCarpath, 18 April 1912,” each entry read.
The excitement aboard the Carpathia contrasted with the inaction aboard another ship, the Californian, which was much closer, but did not act despite seeing distress rockets.
Among the survivors of the Titanic were Marian Thayer, Madeleine Astor and Eleanor Widener, who would present Captain Rostron with the watch a year later. Their wealthy husbands, John Thayer, an executive with the Pennsylvania Railroad; John Jacob Astor, the business magnate and richest passenger aboard; and George Widener, a streetcar developer; had all perished in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
That watch stayed in the Rostron family until 40 years ago, when it was sold, Mr. Aldridge of the auction house said in an interview. It was sold again a decade ago. In the most recent sale, it changed hands between an anonymous American seller and an anonymous American buyer.
The Titanic continues to have a hold on the public imagination, as movies, musicals and museums attest. “There were 2,200 people, and every one of those had a story to tell,” Mr. Aldridge said. “You have 2,200 chapters. And the way we tell the story is through the memorabilia.
“That watch is testament to that man’s bravery and the regard he was held in by the widows of three of the most powerful men on the ship.”
And there seems to be no end in sight to Titanicmania: “The demographic that collects Elvis memorabilia is over 50,” Mr. Aldridge said. “The interest does not translate to younger people, as a rule. But we have 18- to 80-year-olds interested in the Titanic.”
It is hardly the reason it was purchased, but can you even still tell the time from this nearly $2 million watch? “To a point,” Mr. Aldridge said. “Its mechanism works. But it’s missing a hand.”
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