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John Jacob Astor IV - gold pocket watch
A recovered gold pocket watch, which belonged to the richest man on board the Titanic, John Jacob Astor IV, sold for 10 times its estimate and set a new record last month.
His 14-carat gold Waltham watch was sold at Henry Aldridge & Son auction house in Wiltshire for a record-breaking £1.175 million, six times the guide price, matching the record paid, £290,000, for a Titanic artifact – the violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley.
The sale has led to criticism on social media, with amateur historians taking to X, formerly Twitter, to slam the sale, claiming that the piece belonging to Mr Astor should be displayed in a museum. However, the auction house has said that it's a misunderstanding to assume that such artifacts end up in private collections, with many going on display in museums around the world.
The preservation group Titanic Memorial Lighthouse wrote: 'We are increasingly uneasy with the auctioning of recovered Titanic family artifacts. We hope John Jacob Astor's watch now finds its way to a museum and not into the hands of a private collector never to be seen again.'
On April 10, 1912, the RMS Titanic, marketed as unsinkable, began its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, towards New York. It never reached its destination but sank in the icy waters of the North Atlantic after colliding with an iceberg in the early hours of April 15. Of the 2,224 people on board, only 710 survived the disaster and 1,514 lost their lives. Among those who perished was the 47-year-old American John Jacob Astor IV, whose fortune would be equivalent to several billion dollars today. After putting his pregnant wife Madeleine into lifeboat No. 4, Astor was last seen on board, smoking a cigarette and chatting with another passenger.
His body was recovered from the North Atlantic seven days later dressed in a blue suit and brown flannel shirt. He was later identified by the initials 'JJA' engraved on the watch and sewn onto his jacket.
His body was recovered from the water near the site of the accident a
week after the sinking and taken to Halifax, Canada, where he was
identified by his son Vincent based on the personal items he was
carrying. As well as Astor, fellow millionaire passengers Isador Strauss and Benjamin Guggenheim were unable to get a place on the lifeboats despite their wealth and died.
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Biography ~ John Jacob Astor IV
Business Insider ~ John Jacob Astor IV: richest man in the world
Daily Mail UK ~ Auction house in row over sale of gold pocket watch
Henry Aldridge & Son ~ Auction of Titanic Memorabilia
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Styrous® ~ Monday, May 6, 2024
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