A glimpse of Titanic history
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A cup presented by Titanic survivor Molly Brown to the captain of rescue ship Carpathia is expected to raise more than $61,000 in a major UK auction of Titanic memorabilia this weekend.
Henry Aldridge & Son is auctioning the cup and a host of other items related to the tragic ship in Devizes, Wiltshire, on Saturday.
“It is without doubt one of the most iconic pieces of Titanic memorabilia in existence,” Henry Aldridge & Son Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge told FoxNews.com, via email.
The Titanic, which struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. ship's time on April 14 1912, sank just over two hours later with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
A sterling silver loving cup presented by Titanic survivor Molly Brown to the captain of rescue ship Carpathia (Henry Aldridge & Son)
Brown, who later famously became known as the “unsinkable Molly Brown,” presented the sterling silver loving cup to Carpathia’s Captain Sir Arthur Henry Rostron in a ceremony in New York on May 29 1912.
Related: Did this iceberg sink the Titanic?
Captain Rostron and his crew rescued 705 Titanic survivors on April 15, 1912. Brown was on one of the last lifeboats to reach Carpathia, and once onboard, helped establish a committee to raise money for destitute survivors. The committee had raised around $10,000 before the Carpathia had even reached New York, according to Henry Aldridge & Son.
A ceremony arranged for the following month recognized Carpathia’s crew, with each crewmember presented with either a gold, silver or bronze medal, dependent on their rank.
Mrs. James J. "Molly" Brown, a survivor of the Titanic, aboard the Carpathia, April 1912. (REUTERS/George Grantham Bain Collection/Library of Congress/Handout)
A dedication on the loving cup reads: “In grateful recognition and appreciation of his heroic and efficient service in the rescue of the survivors of the Titanic on April 15th 1912, and of the generous and sympathetic treatment he accorded us on his ship. From the Survivors of the Titanic.”
The cup has a presale estimate of between $61,824 and $92,736. The artifact is among more than 200 lots that will go under the hammer as part of Henry Aldridge & Son’s ‘Titanic, Hindenburg and other icons of the 20th century’ auction. Other lots include a photo purportedly showing the iceberg that sank the Titanic, five unpublished photos of the ship’s launch on May 31, 1911 and a tray recovered from the Hindenburg crash site.
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