The Titanic First-Class Dinner Menu Included Beef Sirloin, Tart, and Pudding

Auction of Titanic's Second Day Evening Menu in the UK
"Menu from the 11th is Rare"... Up to 120 Million KRW

The Titanic, which sank in April 1912, has reappeared in the auction market. This time, it is a dinner menu for first-class passengers on the Titanic.

April 11, 1912, First-Class Dinner Menu Up for Auction

[Image source=Capture from Henry Aldridge & Son website]

British auction house Henry Aldridge & Son announced on the 7th (local time) that it will auction the Titanic first-class menu on the 11th, according to CNN and others. The menu measures 4.25 inches (10.795 cm) wide and 6.25 inches (15.875 cm) tall and is said to show signs of having been wet and then dried.

The large passenger ship Titanic departed from the Southhampton dock in the United Kingdom on April 10, 1912, bound for New York, USA. However, four days later, on the night of the 14th, it collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank two hours later.

The menu up for auction is believed to have been served to first-class passengers during dinner on the second day of the voyage, April 11. The menu included beef sirloin with oysters and horseradish cream, apricot bordelaise tart, and Victoria pudding. CNN described it as "showing the luxury experienced by the ship’s first-class passengers."

Estimated Winning Bid Up to 112 Million KRW... "Presumed Victim’s Possession"

[Image source=Capture from Henry Aldridge & Son website]

The menu is known to be one of the belongings of historian Len Stevenson from Nova Scotia, Canada. After he passed away in 2017, his daughter Mary Anita inherited his belongings and discovered the menu while organizing them.

The estimated winning bid is up to 70,000 pounds (approximately 112 million KRW). The auction house stated, "Menus from the 14th, the day the Titanic sank, still exist in small numbers, but menus from the 11th have not been seen," adding, "Most likely, they disappeared with the ship," emphasizing its value.

They also added, "Considering the water damage and the connection to the Nova Scotia area where the Titanic rescue operations took place, it is presumed to have been the possession of one of the victims."

Other Titanic-related items will also be auctioned this time. A tartan blanket used by one of the survivors in a lifeboat for warmth is expected to fetch up to 100,000 pounds (approximately 160 million KRW). A pocket watch belonging to Sinai Kantor, a Russian who traveled in second class, is also up for auction.

Consistently Loved Titanic Artifacts... Highest Price Reaches 1.5 Billion KRW

A scene from the movie 'Titanic'.

Titanic-related items have consistently been popular in the auction market. In 2018, over 5,500 Titanic artifacts were auctioned off as a whole in the United States. Included were the grand staircase from the first-class cabin, a sapphire ring set with 14 diamonds, a bronze angel statue, and passengers’ clothing, collectively valued at 200 million USD (approximately 220 billion KRW at the time).

The highest auction price was for the violin played by bandleader Wallace Hartley, who performed to calm passengers during the Titanic sinking. This scene was also depicted in the movie "Titanic."

The violin was auctioned in the UK in 2013 and sold for 900,000 pounds (approximately 1.546 billion KRW at the time), setting the record for the highest price for a single Titanic item at auction.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.