Magnate Isidor Straus and his wife Ida Straus were among the roughly 1,500 people who perished when the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg on April 14, 1912.
Straus’s body was recovered from the Atlantic several days after. His watch was found on him: an 18 carat gold Jules Jurgensen pocket watch.
It was returned to his family and has been passed down through generations, and has now been sold at auction.
Isidor Straus was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy’s department store in New York.
His and his wife’s story is captured in James’ Cameron 1997 Titanic, which features a haunting scene of an elderly couple embracing in bed as water floods their cabin.
Isidor’s devoted wife, Ida, ceded her place to her maid when Isidor denied his privileged seat in favor of women and children.
As a gesture towards their 40 years together, she chose to remain arm in arm with her husband on deck.
“Isidor, we have been together all of these years, where you go, I go”, Ida was heard saying, a survivor reported.
Ida’s body was never recovered from sea.
Engraved with Isidor’s initials, it is believed that the watch was an 1888 gift from Ida for one of their wedding anniversaries.
Legend says that it stopped at 2:20 AM, the moment the Titanic disappeared beneath the waves.
Now, the watch has been sold at Henry Aldridge and Son Auctioneers in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Saturday.
The historical artefact garnered a “record-breaking” £1.78m at auction – more than anticipated by evaluators.
A letter written by Ida Straus on Titanic stationery and posted while she was onboard the ship was sold with £100,000 – as expected.
The ship’s passenger list was purchased for £104,000.
A gold medal awarded to the crew of the RMS Carpathia, which came to pick up survivors the next morning, sold for £86,000.
This auction of Titanic-related memorabilia totalled £3m.
