Letter written onboard the Titanic before it sank sells for almost $400,000 at auction
A lettercard penned by one of the Titanic’s most well-known survivors from onboard the ship, days before it sank, has sold for $399,000 at auction.
LONDON — A lettercard penned by one of the Titanic’s most well-known survivors from onboard the ship, days before it sank, has sold for $399,000 (300,000 pounds) at auction.
In the note, written to the seller’s great-uncle on April 10, 1912, first-class passenger Archibald Gracie wrote of the ill-fated steamship: “It is a fine ship but I shall await my journeys end before I pass judgment on her.”
The letter was sold to a private collector from the United States on Saturday, according to auction house Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, England. The hammer price far exceeded the initial estimate price of 60,000 pounds.
The letter is believed to be the sole example in existence from Gracie from onboard the Titanic, which sank off Newfoundland after hitting an iceberg, killing about 1,500 people on its maiden voyage.
Colonel Archibald Gracie's letterHenry Aldridge & Son LtdColonel Archibald Gracie's letterHenry Aldridge & Son LtdAuctioneer Andrew Aldridge described it as an “exceptional museum grade piece.”
Rating: 5