Postcards from Titanic sinking victims have sold for thousands of dollars at auction.
This precious piece of history was delivered just days before the great ship sank.
According to SWNS, the postcard was written by British businessman Richard William Smith, one of the ship’s first class passengers.
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Mr. Smith sent the card from Cork, Ireland, addressed to Mrs. Olive Dakin of Norwich.
A postcard from a Titanic passenger sold at auction for more than $25,000. (SWNS)
The card was postmarked April 11, 1912, at 3:45 p.m., just three days before Smith and other passengers aboard the Titanic hit an iceberg.
“We had a good run all the way to Queenstown. We’re about to leave for the land of the Stars and Stripes,” Smith wrote in handwriting on the stationery.
“We hope you are all doing well at home,” the note continued. “Nice to meet you, RWS.”
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SWNS reported that the postcard was originally sold for $12,000, but with additional fees, it ended up selling for more than $25,000.
The card was postmarked three days before the letter’s author sank with his ship in the North Atlantic Ocean. (SWNS)
The card was put up for auction by Henry Aldridge & Son, a Wiltshire auctioneer specializing in Titanic memorabilia.
According to SWNS, the auction house’s managing director, Andrew Aldridge, believes Mr Smith was on the boat with Mrs Nicholls, a tea broker and family friend.
“He must have asked her to post the card because she was only a quarter of the way through when she got off in Queenstown,” Aldridge told the British press.
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“The Titanic had just stopped in Queenstown to pick up a large number of passengers. Little did anyone on board know what was to come on the horizon just 80 hours or so away.”
Several other items were up for auction during the “Titanic, White Star, and Transportation Memorabilia” sale, including a luxury 18-karat gold Tiffany watch.
The inside of the case reads: “In our deepest gratitude to the three survivors of the Titanic, April 15, 1912: Mrs. John B. Thayer, Mrs. John Jacob Astor, and Mrs. George D. Widener. Presented to Captain Rostron.” . ”
Captain Rostron saved more than 700 lives when the Titanic sank, SWNS writes.
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The watch ultimately sold for just under $2 million, ten times its original asking price.
This postcard was sold along with other Titanic memorabilia in the “Titanic, White Star and Transportation Memorabilia” sale. (Photo from History/Universal Images Group (Getty Images, SWNS))
The Titanic’s tragic story of maritime technology and adventure that ended in great loss of life continues to be of great interest today.
“Thanks to James Cameron’s surprisingly successful 1997 film, there are now books, DVDs, documentaries, TV dramas, websites, Facebook pages, YouTube clips, IMAX movies, and 3D jigsaw puzzles about ocean liners. “There are a huge number of them,” he wrote. David Dyer, author of the novel “The Midnight Watch,” which is based on the true events surrounding the sinking of the Titanic, said on his website.
“This ship has given its name to restaurants, ice cubes, academic conferences, computer games, plumber’s businesses…port cruises, calendars, costume shops and more,” added Australia’s Dyer.
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The discovery of the Titanic wreckage in the 1980s further fueled intense interest in the ship’s story.
Within a few years of its discovery, “wealthy tourists could pay thousands of dollars to go down to the wreck site” and see the Titanic. It was “an experience for many like stepping into another world,” Smithsonian magazine reported.
Deirdre Reilly contributed to this report.
