Nearly a century after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ocean liner that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, a New York City auction is being readied by Guernsey's Auctioneers & Brokers.
That auction house has garnered headlines in the past by selling off such historical curiosities as prized Beatles photos, famous jewels of the late Princess Diana, beloved Jerry Garcia guitars and a police motorcycle used in the Texas motorcade when John F. Kennedy was slain. But nothing as titanic as the so-called Titanic collection.
On April 11, all of the salvaged items are to be sold as one lot in what Guernsey's President Arlan Ettinger describes as the most significant auction ever handled by that house.
"Who on this planet doesn't know the story of the Titanic and isn't fascinated by it?" he asked. "Could Hollywood have scripted a more tragic or goose-bump-raising story than what actually happened on that ship?"
"It is as poignant to my 12-year-old son as it is to me and generations before me. There's no end to the fascination about it."
The auction will be conducted 100 years plus a day after the Titanic set sail from Southampton, England, embarking on the ill-fated maiden voyage that had New York as its destination.
The collection was appraised in 2007 at $189 million, including some intellectual property alongside the myriad items plucked by remote controlled probes from the pitch-black depths, some 2 and ½ miles below the ocean's surface.
Those
artifacts include the massive hull section called "The Big Piece" as
well as personal belongings of passengers and crew, such as a mesh purse
and eyeglasses. A bronze cherub that once adorned the Grand Staircase
is also among the collection, as are fine china, table settings, bottles
and ship fittings — even the stand upon which the ship's wheel stood.
Wainger said, "Any individual can
fall in love with any of the different artifacts because so many of them
are personal. When you read the personal stories you recognize the
tragedy."
Premier Exhibitions
has been displaying the Titanic artifacts in exhibitions worldwide. The
items were recovered from the shipwreck in expeditions in 1987, 1993,
1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2004.
RMS
Titanic, which has overseen the artifacts for 18 years, said the public
company decided to auction the collection in response to shareholders'
wishes that the "company go out and make money."
"It's
better to be in the hands of a private institution that doesn't have
the same short-term profit obligations that a public company has," he
said.
In 2010, RMS Titanic
collaborated with some of the world's leading experts in the most
technologically advanced expedition to the Titanic, undertaking the
first comprehensive mapping survey of the vessel with 3-D imagery from
bow to stern.
The most striking images involved the 3-D tour of the Titanic's stern, which lies 2,000 feet from the bow.
A
camera in a remote-controlled submersible vehicle skimmed over the
stern, seemingly transporting viewers through scenes of jagged rusticles
sprouting from the deck, a length of chain, the captain's bathtub, and
wooden elements that scientists had previously believed had disappeared
in the harsh, deep ocean environment.
"Titanic" director James Cameron also has led teams to the wreck to record the bow and the stern.
The
Titanic exhibit is among several operated by Premier Exhibitions, which
bills itself as "a major provider of museum-quality touring
exhibitions." Its offerings have included sports memorabilia, a
traveling Star Trek homage and "Bodies," an anatomy exhibit featuring
preserved human cadavers.
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