Gold watch recovered from body of richest man on the Titanic to be auctioned
John Jacob Astor was last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with a
fellow passenger as the Titanic went down. His body was recovered from
the Atlantic a week later - along with the pocket watch that will go on
auction on Saturday
A gold pocket watch that was recovered from the body of the richest man on the Titanic will be auctioned on Saturday.
John Jacob Astor, 47, went down with the ship in 1912 after helping his wife on to a lifeboat.
Rather than try his luck with another lifeboat, the impeccably
dressed businessman, a prominent member of the wealthy Astor family, was
last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting with a fellow passenger.
His
body was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean seven days after the sinking
of the ship, which hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage to New York, and
his 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch, engraved with the initials JJA,
was found
The watch is expected to fetch between £100,000 and £150,000 when it
goes under the hammer at auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son in
Wiltshire on Saturday.
Mr Astor was thought to be one of the richest people in the world at the time of the Titanic's sinking, with a net worth of about $87m - equivalent to several billion dollars today, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said.
"At
first, Astor did not believe the ship was in any serious danger but
later it was apparent she was sinking and the captain had started an
evacuation after midnight, so he helped his wife into lifeboat four," Mr
Aldridge said.
Mrs Astor survived. Her husband's body was recovered not far from the sinking.
