A life jacket worn by a passenger aboard the RMS Titanic during her escape from the sinking vessel has been sold at auction for more than $900,000.
The flotation device, worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, a first-class passenger on the ill-fated ocean liner, fetched 670,00 pounds ($906,000) at auction on Saturday.
The item also carries signatures of Francatelli and other survivors from the same lifeboat.
It emerged as the highlight of a Titanic memorabilia sale conducted by Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, western England.
The life jacket was purchased by an unidentified telephone bidder, significantly surpassing its pre-sale estimate of between 250,000 and 350,000 pounds.
In the same auction, a seat cushion from one of the Titanic lifeboats sold for 390,000 pounds.
It was acquired by the owners of two Titanic museums located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri. The final prices include the auction house buyer’s premium.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said, “These record-breaking prices illustrate the continuing interest in the Titanic story, and the respect for the passengers and crew whose stories are immortalised by these items of memorabilia,”
The Titanic, promoted as the world’s most luxurious ocean liner and described as “practically unsinkable,” struck an iceberg off Newfoundland during its maiden voyage from England to New York.
It sank within hours on 15 April, 1912, with around 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew losing their lives.
The disaster continues to attract global fascination, partly due to the diverse range of passengers on board, from paupers to plutocrats.
Francatelli travelled with her employer, fashion designer Lucy Duff Gordon, and Lucy’s husband Cosmo Duff Gordon. All three survived aboard lifeboat No. 1, which was launched with 12 people despite having capacity for 40. The lifeboat’s failure to return for people in the freezing waters later sparked controversy.
The highest recorded price for Titanic memorabilia remains 1.56 million pounds, paid in 2024 for a gold pocket watch given to the captain of RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued around 700 Titanic survivors.
