Gold Watch of "Titanic Elderly Couple" Up for Auction... Will It Exceed 2 Billion Won?

Kept by descendants for over a century, now revealed for the first time

A gold watch worn by an elderly couple during the Titanic disaster 113 years ago has been put up for auction for the first time.

A gold watch found on the body of Isidor Straus, one of the wealthiest passengers who died in the Titanic sinking disaster in 1912. Screenshot from the auction house Henry Aldridge & Son's website.

On November 13 (local time), foreign media including the BBC reported that the auction house Henry Aldridge & Son had listed a gold watch, considered the most valuable personal artifact from a Titanic passenger, for auction. The item is an 18k gold pocket watch. Its hands are stopped at 2:20, the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the waves. The estimated auction price is about 1 million pounds (approximately 2 billion won).

This watch is known to have belonged to Isidor Straus, one of the wealthiest passengers on the Titanic. He was the co-owner of Macy's Department Store in New York and boarded the ship with his wife, Ida Straus. The couple became widely known through director James Cameron's film "Titanic," which depicted them lying in bed embracing each other as the ship sank.

Isidor Straus and his wife Ida, who were among the wealthiest passengers to perish in the 1912 Titanic sinking disaster. The photo depicts the Straus couple in a scene from director James Cameron's film "Titanic." Screenshot from the movie "Titanic."

In the actual disaster, Ida was offered a place on a lifeboat but reportedly refused, saying, "I would rather die with my husband." Instead, she is said to have disguised her maid as her own daughter and put her on the lifeboat. Isidor Straus's body was later recovered from the Atlantic Ocean along with his belongings, but Ida's body was never found.

The "Jules Jurgensen" pocket watch, now up for auction, has been kept for over 100 years by Straus's great-grandson. The initials "IS" are engraved on the back of the watch. Even in 1912, this was an expensive watch, trading for about $7,750 at the time, and it is expected to become one of the most valuable Titanic artifacts ever sold.

Aida Strauss sent this letter to a friend shortly after the Titanic departed from Southampton on April 10, 1912. Screenshot from the auction house Henry Aldridge & Son website.

The auction will also feature a letter Ida Straus sent to a friend. The letter was sent shortly after the Titanic departed from Southampton on April 10, 1912, in which Ida described the ship as "furnished with the utmost taste and luxury." She also mentioned the "New York incident," when the Titanic nearly collided with the passenger ship SS New York as it was leaving Southampton. The letter, stamped "TransAtlantic 7," was framed and hung in the office of Kenneth Straus at Macy's Department Store, and, like the watch, had never been released to the public before this auction. The estimated auction price for the letter is 150,000 pounds (approximately 287.6 million won).

A spokesperson for the auction house said, "The Straus couple had one of the most powerful love stories in Titanic history," adding, "Even 113 years later, their story is revived through these artifacts." The gold watch and letter of the Straus couple are set to find a new owner at the auction on November 22.

Meanwhile, last year, another pocket watch related to the Titanic disaster was also auctioned. That watch belonged to the captain of the steamship Carpathia, which rescued more than 700 Titanic survivors, and it sold for a record 1.56 million pounds (about 3 billion won) at the time.

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