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Ever since the world’s worst maritime disaster unfolded on the night of April 14, 1912, the story of the ill-fated ocean liner, RMS Titanic, has managed to capture the hearts and minds of generations of people. On May 1, 2005, Bonhams & Butterfields will bring together some of the most important and scarce artefacts from the doomed vessel for sale at the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts.

The day that time stood still

One of the most fascinating items for sale is an 18-carat Gold Pocket Watch, which stopped ticking as disaster struck mid-Atlantic. The watch belonged to Miss Nora Keane, an Irish immigrant, living in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her brothers and sisters. Following a four-month visit to her mother in Castle Connell, County Limerick, Nora decided to return on the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic, boarding at Queenstown as a 2nd Class passenger. She was rescued in lifeboat No.10. The watch was with her at the time, but suffered from water damage when the lifeboat passed under the ship’s pump discharge. Its gilt face has some rust staining, but it is still expected to fetch £2,600-3,600.

Melancholy memory of a last meal on board

Perhaps the rarest of items to be sold on May 1, will be the only known example of a 3rd Class Menu Postcard from the Titanic. Detailing the meals available on April 14, 1912 on one side of the card, the reverse carries pencil annotations of the passengers on board: those lost and saved.

The 3rd Class Menu for the day consisted of:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, porridge and milk, smoked herrings, jacket potatoes, ham and eggs, fresh bread & butter, marmalade, Swedish bread, tea and coffee.

Dinner: Rice soup, fresh bread, cabin biscuits, roast beef and brown gravy, sweet corn, boiled potatoes, plum pudding, sweet sauce and fruit.

Tea: Cold meat, cheese and pickles, fresh bread and butter, stewed figs and rice, and tea.

Supper: Gruel, cabin biscuits and cheese.

This menu - an incredible artefact - survived the disaster in the handbag of 3rd Class Passenger, Sarah Roth, who was rescued by the Carpathia in lifeboat C. Estimate £21,100-26,400.

An original poster prepared by White Star Line’s New York office to promote the return Titanic trip from New York on April 20, 1912 is also highly collectible. Following the disaster, the posters were withdrawn and surviving examples are extremely rare. Estimate £10,600-15,300.

Ephemera relating to the disaster will encompass letters from passengers, theatre programmes from both sides of the Atlantic of special charity performances to benefit Titanic Disaster charities, and even a collection of sheet music for particularly poignant tunes, such as, “Just as the Ship Went Down, A Song of the Sea” by Gibson & Adeler, “Nearer My God to Thee” by Bernard White and “That Dear Dear Ship Titanic” by Edward Tassie.

Collectors fishing for non-Titanic related items are sure to find something to suit their tastes. The May 1 Sale affords true connoisseurs of marine works of art the opportunity to bid on everything from scale models of ships, seascapes, and scrimshaw work to the Bridge Bell from RMS Queen Elizabeth, 1938, the latter of which is from a private collection estimated at £2,100-3,100.

For more details visit the Bonhams web site.