A gold pocket watch belonging to Titanic passenger Isidor Straus has sold for a record £1.78 million, surpassing all previous auction prices for memorabilia from the doomed liner.
Straus, co-owner of Macy’s, died alongside his wife Ida in the 1912 disaster after the couple chose to remain together as the ship sank, a moment later immortalised in the film Titanic.
The 18-carat Jules Jurgensen watch, recovered with Straus’s body and kept in the family for generations, was sold by Henry Aldridge & Son in Wiltshire, where additional artifacts — including a letter by Ida and a passenger list — brought total Titanic-related sales to £3 million. Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said the record price reflects the enduring fascination with the tragedy and the lasting legacy of the Strauses’ story.
