One of the last known letters
to have been written on the Titanic has sold for a world record price at
auction.
The letter, written by
American businessman and Titanic passenger, Oscar Holverson, fetched £126,000.
It was sought-after because he
wrote it on 13 April 1912 - the day before the Belfast-built ship hit an
iceberg.
It is the only known letter,
on headed Titanic notepaper, to have gone into the Atlantic and survived.
The sea-water stained document
was sold to a British buyer, whose bid to the auction in Wiltshire came in via
phone.
The auctioneer, Andrew
Aldridge, described the anonymous customer as someone "who collects iconic
items from history".
Mr Holverson, a successful
salesman, wrote the letter to his mother while travelling on the ill-fated ship
with his wife, Mary.
The couple boarded the Titanic
in Southampton and planned to travel back to their home in New York.
In his note, the writer seems
in awe of his surroundings, telling his mother that "the boat is giant in
size and fitted up like a palatial hotel".
Mr Holverson, who has an
idiosyncratic style to his syntax, also writes about seeing "the richest
person in the world at that time" - John Jacob Astor - on the ship,
accompanied by his wife.
"He looks like any other
human being even tho (sic) he has millions of money," he adds. "They
sit out on deck with the rest of us."
The letter had a reserve price
of between £60,000 and £80,000.
Speaking ahead of Saturday's
sale, Mr Aldridge said that "even if the letter was virtually blank, it
would still rank as amongst the most desirable, such is the nature of the
paper, its markings and history".
Having been an auctioneer of
Titanic memorabilia for 20 years, he said that its content takes it to another
level, "because of its date, the fact it went into the Atlantic and the
observations it contains".
One prophetic entry in Mr
Holverson's letter never came true, when he wrote: "If all goes well we
will arrive in New York Wednesday AM."
When the Titanic sank, Oscar
Holverson, along with JJ Astor, died along with more than 1,500 people.
Mary Holverson survived.
Her husband's body was
recovered and, inside a pocket book, the letter was found.
It still bears the stains of
the sea water and the water mark of the White Star shipping line.
The letter eventually made its
way back to his mother.
Mr Aldridge said that makes it
"possibly, the only onboard letter written by a victim that was delivered
to its recipient without postage".
Mr Holverson was buried in
Woodlawn cemetery in New York, unaware that, 105 years later, his unposted
letter would generate such interest.
Mr Aldridge, who has auctioned
everything from a set of Titanic keys for £85,000, to a violin that was played
as the ship sank, for £1.1m, said he was also excited to see the letter.
He said it was "one of
the most iconic and important items from the Titanic ever offered at auction
and shows that interest in the ship and its passengers remains incredibly
strong".
Other items in Saturday's
auction included a set of keys belonging to a steward in the Titanic's First
Class, which fetched £76,000.
Two previously unpublished
photos of the Titanic went for £24,000.
The previous world
record for a Titanic letter sold at auction was £119,000, set in April
2014, for a letter written a few hours before the ship hit the iceberg.
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