Titanic's last menu goes for auction more than a century after it sank

More than a century after the luxury cruise liner sank in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, the ship’s last luncheon menu is going up for auction.

According to a report by Reuters, the curator said on Monday that it is expected to fetch up to $70,000. The luncheon menu will be auctioned on September 30 by Invaluable, a live online auction house, along with a letter written by one of the ship’s survivors and a ticket from the Titanic’s Turkish baths weighing chair, used to measure a person’s weight.

Tuesday, September 1 marks 30 years since the wreckage of the ship, which had been dubbed unsinkable, was discovered on the ocean floor by a team of researchers.

"This is not an anonymous artifact from an anonymous survivor," said David Lowenherz, owner of Lion Heart Autographs, the rare manuscripts dealer behind the auction. "There’s such a story behind the history of the boat and the people who were in it and how their lives were affected by the event," he added.

The menu was saved by first-class passenger Abraham Lincoln Salomon and is signed on the back by Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, a passenger from New York who likely had eaten lunch with Salomon that day. Stamped with a date of April 14, 1912, and the White Star Line logo, the menu also included corned beef; mashed, fried and baked jacket potatoes; a buffet of fish, ham and beef; an apple meringue pastry; and a selection of eight cheeses.

Source: Reuters