A ladies' pocket watch discovered among the possessions of a passenger who tragically drowned on the Titanic's doomed maiden voyage could fetch up to £50,000 at auction.
Hans Christensen Givard, a 27-year-old Danish second-class passenger, was one of the 1,500 individuals who perished when the ship hit an iceberg on this day - April 15 - in 1912.
Mr Givard was journeying to the US alongside two friends, who also lost their lives in the catastrophe. The timepiece was discovered when Givard's body was retrieved from the North Atlantic; he was subsequently laid to rest in Halifax, Canada.
Among his belongings were a savings book, keys, cash in a wallet, a silver watch, a compass and a passport.
Also found was the gilded ladies' pocket watch, which shows signs of saltwater corrosion. All his possessions were returned to his brother in Denmark, and it is his descendants who are now selling the watch.
The tragic tale of Mr Givard directly inspired curator Jesper Hjermind and his niece, journalist and US resident Mette Hjermind McCall, to pen the book Titanic – De Danske Fortællinger (Titanic – The Danish Stories), where the pocket watch is referenced.
It was also displayed by Claes Goran Wetterholm, the world's leading authority on the Scandinavian aspect of the Titanic story, in Copenhagen in 2012.
The watch will be auctioned off at Henry Aldridge and Son, of Devizes, Wiltshire, on April 26.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge stated: "This piece is documented in the official list of Hans's effects compiled by the Authorities in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the weeks after the Titanic disaster and has remained in his family ever since.
"It was one of the centre pieces of the display of Titanic memorabilia in the Tivoli in Copenhagen in 2012 which illustrates its importance.
"The watches movement is frozen in time at the moment the cold North Atlantic waters consumed not only its owner but the most famous ocean liner of all time Titanic on April 15 1912."
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English (United States) ·