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A life jacket worn by a Titanic survivor sold for more than $900,000 at auction on Saturday, far surpassing expectations and highlighting the enduring fascination with the doomed ship.
The life jacket – believed to be one of the few surviving Titanic life jackets – was used by first class passenger Laura Mabel Francatelli when the ship sank in 1912 and was the only one of its kind ever sold at auction.
It sold for 670,000 pounds, or about $906,000, including fees, at Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers in Devizes, England, to an anonymous telephone auctioneer.
The final price far exceeded its estimated range of $339,000 to $475,000.
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A life-saving Titanic survivor is shown in London, Wednesday, May 16, 2007. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
Other auction items included a Titanic lifeboat seat cushion, which fetched about $527,000 and was purchased by the owners of the Titanic museums in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Branson, Missouri.
“These record-breaking prices reflect the continued interest in the story of the Titanic, and respect for the passengers and crew who keep their stories alive with these memorabilia,” said creator Andrew Aldridge.
Francatelli was wearing a life jacket when he boarded Lifeboat No. 1 and 11 others after the Titanic – described at the time as “unsinkable” – struck an iceberg just before midnight on April 14, 1912, off Newfoundland during its maiden voyage from England to New York.
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A rare Titanic artifact, a survivor’s life jacket, has sold for more than $900,000 at a private auction, auctioneers said. (BNPS)
He and seven other survivors from the same boat later signed the document.
Francatelli, then 22 years old, was aboard the Titanic in France while working as a secretary to fashion designer Lady Lucy Duff Gordon and her husband, Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon.
He later recalled being assisted by a life preserver and directed to the area where the lifeboats were lowered. Lifeboat No. 1, which was carrying 40 people, became controversial for failing to return to pick up other survivors in the frigid waters of the Atlantic.
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Francatelli was wearing a life jacket when he boarded Lifeboat No. 1 after the Titanic struck an iceberg just before midnight on April 14, 1912. (BNPS)
The cream-colored life jacket, made of canvas with cork-filled sections, has been exhibited in museums in the United States and Europe.
While the item fetched a high price, it fell short of the Titanic memorabilia record. In 2024, a gold pocket watch given to the captain of the RMS Carpathia – the ship that rescued more than 700 survivors – sold for 1.56 million pounds, or about $2 million at the time.
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Titanic passenger Isidor Straus and his gold pocket watch to be auctioned (Bettmann/Getty Images)
Saturday’s auction takes place 114 years after the Carpathia arrived in New York with Titanic survivors on April 18, 1912.
Kelly McGreal of Fox News Digital and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
