These rare Titanic artifacts sold for over $1 million at auction
Rare items from the Titanic including a pocket watch and a life jacket were sold for over $1 million at auctions.
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When the footage was originally captured in July 1986, no human had set eyes on the ill-fated ocean liner for nearly 75 years.
Rare items from the Titanic were sold for over $1 million at auctions this month.
One item was a life jacket worn by first-class passenger and survivor, Laura Mabel Francatelli, when the ship sank on April 14, 1912.
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Francatelli wore the life jacket as she boarded Lifeboat No. 1 after the ship struck an iceberg just before midnight. The lifeboat had a capacity of about 40 people, but only 12 were aboard when it left the Titanic.
Francatelli later signed the flotation device along with seven other survivors from the same lifeboat.
A life jacket worn by a first class passenger on the Titanic sold at an auction for $904,500.
(Henry Aldridge and Son / FOX Weather)
"There are only a handful of life jackets worn by survivors which still exist today," auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told Cover Media, adding that most are held in museums and are unlikely to be sold.
The flotation device remained in her family for about 20 years before it was acquired by a private collector.
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Auctioneers expected the item to sell for roughly $339,000 to $475,000, but it was auctioned off for $904,500.
Another item sold was an 18-carat gold pocket watch that Frederick Sutton, 61, was wearing when the ship sank.
An 18-carat gold pocket watch that Frederick Sutton, 61, was wearing when the ship sank, sold for $215,000.
(Henry Aldridge and Son)
The wealthy, first-class passenger was among the 1,500 lives lost that night.
"The significance of this watch is the fact that it was onboard the Titanic and, most importantly, the seconds hand is frozen in time at the moment its owner, Frederick Sutton, entered the cold North Atlantic water 114 years ago," Aldridge said.
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The watch, which was recovered from Sutton’s body, was expected to sell for about $108,000, but was purchased for $215,000.
"Watches from Titanic passengers are especially prized by collectors and historians, and the fact that it was onboard the Titanic elevates it to a different level," Aldridge said.