Titanic ‘sales’ again
The Titanic is going under — an auctioneer’s hammer.
Owners of the ship’s salvaged wreckage plan to have a huge, winner-take-all sale of recovered artifacts in April, on the 100-year anniversary of the world’s most famous nautical disaster.
More than 5,500 items will be sold in New York by Guernsey’s Auctioneers & Brokers.
Many of the items — including fine china and ship fittings — will be at the titanic Big Apple auction on April 15.
Other pieces, such as a 17-ton chunk of the hull, are on loan now to exhibits across the country. Those items are included in the sale, but won’t physically be at the auction house when the hammer falls on April 15.
The recovered Titanic remains are being sold in one lot, in accordance with the demand of a federal judge who wants it kept together so scholars won’t have to chase after thousands of auction winners.
These items were appraised at $189 million in 2007, according to Premier Exhibitions, the Atlanta company that owns all of the recovered pieces.
The “unsinkable” Titanic went down on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, killing 1,517 passengers and crew.
