Henry Aldridge Auctions in Devizes, Wiltshire have made a name for themselves as the place for Titanic memorabilia and their 19th November auction doesn't disappoint as it sees an exceptionally rare First-Class passenger list auction with a £40,000 - £60,000 estimate.
The passenger list, measuring 5 inches x 7 inches, belonged to First-Class passenger George Brereton, a professional gambler who travelled on the Titanic looking for wealthy passengers to play cards with.
It is known that Brereton embarked the Titanic in Southampton on 10th April 1912 with his First-Class ticket number 111427.
Each First-Class passenger was given a copy of the passenger list which also included special offers by way of additional furniture to rent to make the trip more comfortable, wireless telegraph rates, and instructions on how and where to disembark when the ship arrived in New York.
Interestingly in Brereton's copy of the passenger list he has highlighted certain passenger's names, such as Charles Hays, alongside which Brereton has written the word 'millionaire', presumably someone Brereton would be eager to play cards with.
In fact as the Titanic was struck by the iceberg Brereton was playing cards in the First-Class smoking room and he is believed to have been carried to safety by lifeboat 9.2.
The passenger list has impeccable provenance having come from the collection of ocean liner memorabilia dealer Ken Schultz, having originally been acquired directly from Brereton's great niece,
Schultz himself was responsible for the sale of many of Titanic's greatest pieces of memorabilia including an original Titanic deckchair for $80,000, and the famed Guglielmo Marconi telegram sent from the Titanic.
The star lot in Aldridge's 19th November auction is the pocket watch of postal clerk Oscar Scott Woody that is frozen in time from when the iceberg struck and he fell into the freezing water.
The watch has previously been displayed at The Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and is considered to be one of the most iconic pieces of Titanic memorabilia, hence the estimate of £70,000 - £100,000.
View the auction at Henry Aldridge.