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'Remarkable' Titanic menu up for auction

Bea Swallow
BBC News
Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd First-Class menu from the Titanic. It has water stains on it and a red emblem of a flag at the top.Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd
The first-class dinner menu offers an insight into the final days of the wealthiest passengers on the Titanic

Various items from the RMS Titanic will soon be up for auction - 111 years after the ship sank.

A first-class dinner menu, believed to be the only one in existence for 11 April 1912, is expected to sell for £50,000- £70,000.

Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge described it as a "remarkable survivor" of the crash.

More than 1,500 people died when the Titanic struck an iceberg on 14 April 1912 and sank the following day.

The menu lists dishes including oysters, tournedos of beef, spring lamb and mallard duck and shows signs of water immersion, having been partially erased.

Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd A green/brown/tartan blanket with a red checked pattern with the White Star Line logo in the bottom right corner.Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd
This rare blanket is believed to have travelled alongside a Titanic survivor to New York on the rescue ship, Carpathia

Other items for sale include a deck blanket, estimated to sell for £70,000-£100,000. The first-class White Star Line blanket is believed to have travelled with a Titanic survivor to New York on board the rescue ship RMS Carpathia.

Also listed for auction is a pocket watch retrieved from the body of second-class passenger Sinai Kantor, after he was pulled from the water during the seven day recovery operation.

Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd A rusted open-face pocket watch with faded Hebrew numerals and corroded handsHenry Aldridge & Son Ltd
The hands of the silver-on-brass watch have been heavily corroded as a result of immersion in salt water

He boarded the ship for £26 in Southampton with his wife, Miriam, who survived the disaster by boarding a lifeboat.

It has been estimated by auctioneers to have a value of £50,000-£80,000.

Another item for sale is a faded broadside poster, advertising third-class tariffs for Titanic's ill-fated voyage.

Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd A Titanic poster advertising third-class tickets.Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd
White Star Line reportedly destroyed as many of the posters as they could

White Star Line reportedly destroyed as many of these posters as they could following the ship's sinking, and it is believed only a handful exist today.

The auction is scheduled to take place on 11 November at Henry Aldridge & Son Ltd in Devizes, Wiltshire.

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