Sold for Twice the Estimated Price at 1.3 Billion Won: "A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity"

A life jacket actually worn by a Titanic survivor was put up for auction for the first time and was sold for 670,000 pounds (approximately 1.3 billion KRW), far surpassing its estimated price.

According to the BBC on April 18 (local time), the life jacket was purchased by a private collector at the "Henry Aldridge & Son" auction in Wiltshire, England, on this day. The expected winning bid was in the range of 250,000 to 350,000 pounds (about 500 million to 700 million KRW).

The life jacket worn by a Titanic survivor was auctioned for approximately 1.3 billion KRW. Photo captured from Henry Aldridge & Son website

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This life jacket is the only one to come up for auction in the 114 years since the Titanic tragedy in 1912. It was worn by Laura Mabel Francatelli, who was the secretary to British fashion designer Lucy Duff-Gordon and a first-class passenger at the time. Francatelli survived by boarding Lifeboat No. 1 together with the Gordon couple.

The life jacket is made of canvas filled with cork and features 12 pockets. It also bears the signatures of other survivors who were on the same lifeboat during the rescue. In the past, this life jacket has been exhibited at the Titanic Museum in Belfast and the Titanic Museum in Tennessee, United States. The auction house described the item as "an extremely symbolic artifact among Titanic memorabilia," adding, "This is the first time a survivor's life jacket has been put up for auction, and it is a once-in-a-generation opportunity."

The Titanic was a luxury passenger ship built by British shipbuilder Harland & Wolff and operated by the shipping company White Star Line. It was regarded as a symbol of wealth and technological prowess at the time. Measuring about 269 meters in length, it was among the largest ships in the world, and its first-class section was equipped with lavish facilities such as a swimming pool, gymnasium, and upscale restaurants. However, just four days after departing from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, it struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank. About 2,200 passengers and crew were on board, and more than 1,500 of them lost their lives in the massive maritime disaster.

Seventy-three years after the accident, in 1985, the wreckage of the Titanic was discovered on the ocean floor about 600 kilometers south of the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, and it was subsequently designated as an underwater cultural heritage site by UNESCO.

Meanwhile, at the same auction, a seat cushion from a Titanic lifeboat was sold for 390,000 pounds (about 770 million KRW). The winning bidder was the Titanic Museum in the United States. The cushion had previously been purchased by a friend of Richard William Smith, a tea importer from London who was among the victims of the Titanic disaster. Smith's body was never recovered.

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