WHAT: The only known surviving April 14, 1912 first class dinner menu from the R.M.S. Titanic sold for $118,750 recently at Heritage Auctions. Signed by three first class passengers, the menu was one of several lots related to the ship and its fate.
MORE: An oil painting of the iceberg involved, done by a passenger on a rescue ship, sold for $12,500, and a menu from the R.M.S. Carpathia, the first ship to reach the Titanic, sold for $3,125.
SMART COLLECTORS KNOW: Artifacts from well-known disasters are often collected, especially when the story is as dramatic as the fate of the “unsinkable ship.” Instead of morbid fascination, their biggest draw is human interest and the story behind the object.
HOT TIP: So little survived from the ship that anything linked to the Titanic, especially from the sinking, is avidly collected.
BOTTOM LINE: In October 2015, a single cracker, part of a survival kit found in a Titanic lifeboat, sold at auction in Britain for almost $23,000. It had been saved as a souvenir by a passenger on the Carpathia.
BOOK IT! “Eccentric Homes” by Thijs Demeulemeester (Luster, $40) has text in English, Dutch and French. Featured are truly eccentric Belgian home interiors filled with collections and furnishings that show personality. One collector even talks about getting restless in his decor because there is so much to see. Neat stuff.
