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September 1, 2015

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Last Titanic lunch menu up for auction

The Titanic鈥檚 last lunch menu 鈥 saved by a passenger who climbed aboard the so-called 鈥淢oney Boat鈥 before the ocean liner went down 鈥 is going to auction, where it鈥檚 expected to bring US$50,000 to US$70,000.

The online New York auctioneer Lion Heart Autographs is offering the menu and two other previously unknown artifacts from Lifeboat 1 on September 30. The auction marks the 30th anniversary of the wreckage鈥檚 discovery at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Abraham Lincoln Salomon was one of a handful of first-class passengers who boarded the lifeboat 鈥 dubbed the 鈥淢oney Boat鈥 or 鈥淢illionaire鈥檚 Boat鈥 because of unfounded rumors one of them bribed seven crew members to quickly row the boat away from the Titanic rather than rescue others.

The menu, which listed corned beef, dumplings and other savory items, is signed on the back in pencil by another first-class passenger, Isaac Gerald Frauenthal, who escaped on another lifeboat. It鈥檚 believed the two men lunched together that fateful day in 1912.

Salomon also took away a printed ticket from the Titanic鈥檚 opulent Turkish baths, which recorded a person鈥檚 weight when seated in a specially designed upholstered lounge chair. It bears the names of three of the five other first-class passengers with him on Lifeboat 1. One of four weighing-chair tickets known to exist, it鈥檚 estimated it will bring up to US$10,000.

The third artifact is a letter written by Mabel Francatelli to Salomon on New York鈥檚 Plaza Hotel stationery six months after the disaster. She had climbed into the No. 1 lifeboat with her employer, aristocratic fashion designer Lucy Duff-Gordon and her Scottish husband Lord Cosmo Duff-Gordon, who it was alleged bribed the crew to row them to safety in the boat that had a capacity of 40.

Lion Heart Autographs says the seller is the son of a man who was given the items by a direct descendent of one of the survivors of Lifeboat 1.


 

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